Total Drama Revenge: Pahkitew Island
by pencil-lead-guy
Summary: In a world where everything after World Tour doesn't exist, 22 contestants from ROTI and PI are invited to compete in the brand new season of Total Drama for a grand prize of a million dollars! Who will win? What new friendships or romances will form? Who will succumb to the pressure and drama? Find out on Total Drama Revenge: Pahkitew Island!
1. Announcement

**Disclaimer: I do not own Total Drama, its characters, or anything else related to the series.**

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~Author's Note~

 _First of all, I'd like to thank you for clicking on my new story, Total Drama Revenge: Pahkitew Island. Now let me tell you some things about this story; hopefully I'll get you interested._

 _Total Drama Revenge: Pahkitew Island takes place in a universe where the seasons "Revenge of the Island", "All Stars", "Pahkitew Island", and "The Ridonculous Race" do not exist. This time, Chris McLean handpicks the would-be cast members from Revenge of the Island and Pahkitew Island, and invites them to compete in Revenge: Pahkitew Island. Think of it as an "All Stars" for those two seasons. In case you haven't connected the dots yet, yes, it will take place on Pahkitew Island, and not Camp Wawanakwa. Chris has some sensibility, and allowed the new victims (I mean campers) to compete on an island free from toxic waste._

 _I'd like to say that even though this is not my first time writing, I am bound to make some mistakes here and there, whether it involves grammar or the story in general. If you spot any errors in my story that you'd like me to fix (although I wouldn't mind some praise now and then, hehe), feel free to write a review or PM me your thoughts. I won't bite! Also, I should mention that I am almost finished with another fanfiction that I am writing on another site, however, I plan on creating a sequel to that, so I will try to get to this story as much as I can. If it helps, I will update my profile to let you guys know how progress on the next chapter is._

 _Lastly, if your favorite Total Drama character didn't make the cut, I would like to apologize in advance, as I chose the cast based solely on my opinions of the characters, and their interactions/relationships._

 _I guess that about covers it all... so without further ado, here is the cast list for Total Drama Revenge: Pahkitew Island! God bless you._

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 **Total Drama: Revenge of the Island Cast**

Anne Maria (The Jersey Shore Reject)

B (The Silent Genius)

Brick (The Hardcore Cadet)

Cameron (The Bubble Boy)

Dakota (The Fame-Monger)

Dawn (The Ethereal Moonchild)

Jo (The Competitive Jockette)

Lightning (The Uber Jock)

Mike (The Multiple Personality Disorder)

Sam (The Sweetheart Gamer)

Scott (The Dirty Schemer)

Zoey (The Indie Chick)

 **Total Drama: Pahkitew Island Cast**

Amy (The Evil Twin)

Dave (The Normal Guy)

Ella (The Fairytale Princess)

Jasmine (The Outback Survivalist)

Max (The Super Villain)

Samey (The Good Twin)

Scarlett (The Quiet Brainiac)

Shawn (The Zombie Freak)

Sky (The Persevering Athlete)

Topher (The Chris Wannabe)

 **Other Characters**

Chris McLean

Chef Hatchet


	2. Chapter 1: Contestants Arrive

**Disclaimer: I do not own Total Drama, its characters, or anything else related to the series.**

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~Author's Note~

 _Let me begin with saying that I'm extremely excited to begin this story. I had a blast writing for each character, and I can't wait for you guys to see what this season has in store for you!_

 _Now I know how this chapter may seem, since a majority of it involves character introductions and arrivals. But I promise, there will be more action, dialogue, and drama in the rest of the chapters._

 _I feel like I didn't spend as much time on this story as I wanted to. I really don't know what I was aiming for, but I feel like a whole month is a long time to wait. So I will try to improve on that for the remainder of the story._

 _I would really appreciate any opinions you have about how I can improve my writing. To be honest, I felt like the fluidity of the story roughened at some parts, and I want to use my skills to the fullest extent to create an enjoyable story for my audience._

 _In other news, a poll will be set up on my profile page where you can vote for who you want to win Total Drama Revenge: Pahkitew Island! Although I have the entire elimination order planned out already, your votes may or may not influence the order. *smirk*_

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~Replying to Reviews~

 **Richboylion** \- Yes, I'll admit, that was bad naming on my part. The thought did cross my mind once, but I didn't think it'd be that big of a deal. Hopefully my new name for it fits better than "Revenge of Pahkitew Island" as they've never been on Pahkitew Island before. Thanks for pointing that out. With that out of the way, I hope you enjoy the story.

 **ThorBringsTheThunder** \- Thank you for your support! I suppose what I said to Richboylion can be said to you as well.

 **ShadowJcreed** \- No worries, those things happen. Glad to hear you're excited for the story!

 **StarHeart Specials** \- Thank you so much, StarHeart! I hope that the first chapter satisfies my audience.

 **AnonReviewer** \- Haha, yes, those five characters will be missed (by some). As for if I will include canon challenges, I plan on including a few from Revenge of the Island, a few from All Stars, a few from Pahkitew Island, and the rest will be original challenges created by myself. (Don't worry, no Sundae Muddy Sundae)

 **Guesty McGuest** \- Thank you for those inspiring words. I will certainly be confident in myself as I create this story. Although I don't know anyone named North, I can say that they won't be in my story.

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Okay, now let's get to the first chapter of Total… Drama… Revenge… Pahkitew Island!

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Chris McLean, the famous celebrity, and the host of the Total Drama series, was standing on the Dock of Shame, staring off into the distance. Phone in hand, a glass of cool pink lemonade in the other, complete with a bendy straw and a sky blue paper umbrella.

"Yeah," he said into the phone. "Yeah, I'll get right on it. Yes, yes, I understand. No, thank _you_! Buh-bye." With an irritated look, he stuffed his phone in his pocket and mumbled, "Stupid lawyers…" to himself. Then, he looked at the camera and pretended to be surprised.

"Oh, hello world!" he said, waving. A hint of frustration was hidden in his voice, most likely from that phone call with the lawyers. "I didn't see you there. I'm Chris McLean, and you guessed it- it's a whole new season of Total Drama, right here, on Camp Wawanakwa once again!"

The camera zoomed out to show not Camp Wawanakwa, but instead, an entirely different island without Wawanakwa's signature cliff from Total Drama Island's first-ever challenge.

Chris chuckled as he continued to speak. "Just kidding! Since I rented the island out to a biohazardous waste disposal company, Wawanakwa is extremely toxic!" He started fake-coughing. "Yep, can you imagine what this season would be like if it took place on a toxic island? Yeah, me neither. This time, I decided to host the next season of Total Drama on a beautiful Cree historical site called Pahkitew Island!"

"What surprises are in store here?" Chris asked the audience with a wiggle of the eyebrows. "Returning from Total Drama Island… the cabins, the main lodge, and everyone's favorite: the outhouse confessional!" Images of everything he said appeared on everyone's TV screens as he listed them.

The camera followed Chris as he walked across the Dock of Shame. "Now, let me recap how Total Drama functions. Twenty-two campers will spend the summer roughing it at our Camp Wawanakwa recreation. Call it Camp Pahkitew, if you will! Two teams of eleven will battle it out in the brutal challenges I've prepared for them, and the losers will have their fates decided at the campfire ceremony." Chris pointed to where the campfire ceremonies were held with his thumb.

"Ah, campfire ceremonies," he continued. "The juiciest, most suspenseful part of Total Drama! The losing team will be called up to participate, where each member uses the outhouse confessional to vote one of their fellow teammates off. If you're safe from being voted off, you will receive a marshmallow, the symbol of life and survival here on Total Drama." He popped a marshmallow into his mouth to end his sentence. "But the person who is voted off will not receive said marshmallow, and will be forced to walk the Dock of Shame, and ride the Boat of Losers home. After that, you're gone for good. Well, maybe." He masked his important statement with innocent laughter.

Chris's phone played a marimba text tone. After reading what he had just been sent, he dramatically threw his arms up in disappointment. "Ah, shoot… almost forgot about our contestants! Who's out there excited to see some returning fan-favorites, like Gwen, or Duncan, or Courtney?" The camera swung around to show Chef wearing a white and blue striped swimsuit, orange goggles, and an inflatable pool ring resembling a duck. "I am," he said, unenthusiastically, as if he was forced. Chris let out some laughter, but restrained himself from completely bursting into it.

"Hahaha… sorry, Charlie! This time, we're inviting twenty-two all new Total Drama contestants! We know you're going to love 'em! And according to my text, they should be arriving here on the Dock of Shame anytime now." Chris looked at the crystal blue water, waiting for a boat to arrive.

"Y'know, Chef, do you know how long it took us to recreate the Dock of Shame? And the Main Lodge? AND the cabins?"

Chef Hatchet groaned as he sat on the edge of the Dock of Shame, kicking the water about with his legs. "Two or three months." He gave Chris an ice-cold glare as he said, "I don't seem to remember you helping at all!"

"Chef, you know that outdoor work makes me sweat! Chris McLean and sweat don't mix. How do you think I keep this perfect celebrity body? Always care about your appearance, Chef." Chef grumbled as he looked down at his cartoonish outfit. To add fuel to the fire, Chris added, "Let that be a word of advice. Never wear swimsuits, especially those mistakes from the 20's."

That did it. Chef leapt onto the Dock of Shame, and squeezed his pool ring hard enough to make it pop, which gave Chris quite the scare. "AH!" Chris was posed with both arms in front of his face, while standing on one tiptoe. He cleared his throat as he fixed his posture and wiped some dirt off of his chest. "Point taken, Chef. Stand down." Chef regained his composure (if you can even call it that) and sat back down.

"Now," Chris said to the camera. "Let's wait for the contestants to arrive by aweing at my gorgeous hair." He flipped his hair to the side and smiled proudly, but that short-lived smile turned into anger. "CHEF! Get me an electric fan!"

Chef had a worried look, but as he got up, he pointed to the horizon. "They're here," he said, glad that he didn't have to follow Chris's orders… this time, that is.

Chris looked at where Chef was pointing as he blocked the sun. He was right, the figure of a boat was forming, and it was growing more and more.

A young girl was standing tall and proud at the boat's bow, holding on to the golden handrails, eager to set foot on the new island. The boat was splitting the water into two like a knife would to a loaf of bread, creating sparkling white waves that kept traveling away from the boat, farther and farther.

The girl was quite short, but she was far from meek. She brushed her bangs to the left as she waved at Chris and Chef, smiling confidently.

Finally arriving at the Dock of Shame, the boat's driver struggled to pick up the girl's tan duffel bag. To add insult to injury, when the driver handed the girl her bag (although it was more of a toss, since the bag was not easy on his arms), she caught it with ease. Had the driver not been there, you couldn't even tell that the bag was heavy.

"Thank you," she told the driver, but the driver seemed to ignore her. He drove off as soon as the girl set foot on the Dock of Shame. "C'mon, rude much?" she said to herself, almost feeling bad that he has to do this for the other twenty-one contestants.

"Our first contestant, Sky, is here!" Chris announced to the camera. Sky, with a half-embarrassed grin, gave a polite dismissive wave to Chris.

Her raven black hair barely passed her relaxed shoulders. Rose-colored feather earrings hung from both of her ears. Her faded yellow tank top was complete with a purple band around the waist that matched her purple bead necklace. She wore tight black athletic pants, as well as purple tennis shoes with white soles and laces. The color choice of her shoes was very uncommon, but still, it looked like they were custom-made to match her necklace. However, her shoes were quite dirty and the front of one of her soles appeared to be peeling off of the shoe, making it evident that Sky's best quality is athletics. Overall, Sky's appearance presented a friendly and humble young girl who you want to have around, but it also expressed her perseverance and fitness.

"Nice to meet you, Chris!" Sky said with determination, which seemed to deteriorate as the silence drew on. "Um… I hope we get along well. 'Cause I'll be staying here for a while! …to win the million dollars!"

Chris laughed politely, but awkwardly. "Haha, um… you can set your luggage over there, and wait for the other contestants to arrive."

Trying desperately to ignore what she just said, Sky blushed and replied, "Okay…" and went to put her luggage on the end of the Dock of Shame. Chef noticed Sky slapping her forehead as she went to do so. Despite the confidence she's expressed up until now, Sky has had a habit of letting her emotions get the better of her. Looks like the emotion that "got the better of her" this time was both fear and curiosity.

The boat was seen returning, but the contestant on the front of the boat this time had a much larger figure than Sky.

The large contestant arrived quite awkwardly, with his hands in the pockets of his jacket, while doing nothing but looking at all the visible parts of Pahkitew Island with an emotionless face. A rather strange way to enter a reality TV show indeed.

The driver of the boat stopped the boat by the Dock of Shame once again, and looked around for the contestant's luggage, but then gave up and refocused on controlling the boat. The contestant walked off the boat, hands still in said pockets, meaning that he had brought no luggage. As he approached Chris, though, his face lit up and he gave off a cool smile.

The teen sported a scarlet baseball cap that he wore backwards, and his soft teal eyes resembled the color of the sky after a storm. Other than his one earring and his goatee, his mocha-colored face had nothing else notable about it. Considering that he had just arrived on an island, his clothes seemed a bit inappropriate for the situation. It consisted of a white t-shirt, a plain amber sweatshirt, and a dark grey long coat. Thankfully, his short jeans and beige sneakers seemed more fitting for Pahkitew Island.

"Ah, you must be B. It's nice to meet you," said Chris, attempting to be as polite as he could, and to avoid another Sky-situation.

B's face did not move. He only snapped his fingers into a finger-gun at Chris and walked to Sky.

Chris whined, "Hey!" as he held his arm up to give B a high-five, hoping that he noticed him, but he didn't. Chris "saved" it by running his fingers through his long black hair.

Sky became a bit uncomfortable when B stood beside her. "You don't talk much, do you?"

B raised his eyebrows and shrugged. This relieved Sky, showing her that there may actually be an intelligent brain and a kind heart concealed underneath his silent shell.

"CHRIS! OVER HERE!"

Chris displayed a confused expression as he turned to where the next boat was approaching. The contestant who was arriving, a young man, was grabbing the handrail and was waving violently. It turns out that he was the person who was screaming, but the screaming only annoyed Chris, that is, until the contestant stepped off of the boat to meet him. He was so excited that he threw his luggage onto the dock without a single thought.

"Hey hey, it's Chris McLean!" he exclaimed with extravagant arm gestures. "What's happening?"

Chris's annoyance had now been replaced with sincerity as he looked at what the contestant was wearing. A turquoise long-sleeved shirt with a darker-shade-of-turquoise stripe circling his midsection, as well as a white collar folded downward to reveal a V-neck in the shirt. He was also wearing khakis and grey-blue shoes. By himself, the contestant looked normal. But standing next to Chris McLean, the two almost looked like twins, as the contestant had chosen his outfit to resemble the celebrity. His hair was a different story, which was dirty blonde styled nearly into a pompadour.

"It's such an honor to meet you, Chris! You don't even know!" continued the Chris-lookalike.

"Topher, my man!" said a proud Chris. The two exchanged a firm handshake that ended with a pat on the back.

Sky tapped her chin in confusion. "Um… Chris, is this your son?"

Unsure of whether to take that as a joke, Chris chose to ignore her and tried to continue talking with Topher, but…

"Oh, I can arrange that, you know," Topher told him with enthusiasm. "Here you go."

Topher dug through his luggage as Chris began to look worried.

With an "aha," Topher pulled out a small stack of papers and gave them to Chris.

"Um… what is all this?" Chris looked closer as he flipped through every paper. "A-Adoption forms, huh…?"

Topher didn't find this strange at all. "Yeah, I'm sure my parents would be totally fine with it. I mean, to be raised by THE Chris McLean?! That's the dream life right there."

Chris seemed completely flustered by the extremity of Topher's near-obsession. "I'll get back to you on that," he told Topher, hoping that answer would satisfy him. He folded the papers up until they were small enough to fit inside a pants pocket.

Topher began to grab his stomach, and doubled over laughing. "Relax, Chris. It's just a joke," he teased, holding back tears. Still childishly giggling, he grabbed his luggage and ran over to Sky and B. Chris made sure to drop the papers into the lake while Topher's back was turned, thinking that his joke wasn't funny at all. Now that Topher had joined Sky and B, Sky clutched her arm in complete embarrassment.

The boat returned again, but it didn't appear to have anyone on it save for the boat's driver. Once the boat came closer to the Dock of Shame, everyone saw someone on the floor, doing push-ups. The boat slowed down into a complete stop, and the figure jumped up from the floor and yelled out, "FINALLY!"

Timidly, the boat's driver held out the girl's luggage for her. He let out a yelp as she swiped it away from his hands, without even looking at him. He drove off as fast as he could once the girl set foot on the Dock of Shame.

Chris, who just wanted to have a normal introduction, just waved to the girl and uttered, "Welcome to Pahkitew Island, Jo. It's great to-"

The girl, Jo, dropped her luggage, stomped up to Chris and grabbed his wrist, making sure to squeeze it tight. "You remember what I said in my audition, don't you, McLean? The million… is… MINE." By the painful expression on Chris's face, Jo seemed to have squeezed his wrist tighter to emphasize her words.

Now losing feeling in his reddening hand, Chris nodded his head rapidly as Jo let go. Chris fell to the ground with a sigh of relief and sweet freedom, shaking his hand about. He coughed and added, "Now THAT'S… how you intro… introduce… yourself with… confidence…" Chris ended his sentence with a loud, raspy cough. The remark was aimed towards Sky, who started to grow angry at Chris.

"You may as well quit now, ladies and germs," Jo started as she walked up to the group of campers. "I came here to win," she stated, proudly.

She wasn't the most attractive girl in the world, as she wore her honey blonde hair in a messy mullet and her eyebrows were dark and bushy. For clothing, Jo was wearing a dark grey hoodie with pockets at the front. Although she never sticks her hands in there; she sees it as a sign of weakness to put your hands in your pockets. Jo was also wearing baggy light-navy sweatpants, and large green sneakers. Overall, it was a very plain outfit, but she wore her clothes with pride. Her body language and attitude made it evident to everyone that Jo was the boss.

Sky, who was now reaching her breaking point, asserted, "We all came here to win!"

Jo dismissed her with a rude scoff, leaving Sky just as mad as she was before.

An ear-splitting, "Aw yeah, baby!" came from the returning boat and spread across the lake. It grabbed both Sky and Topher's attention while Jo stood there, rolling her eyes. And then there's B, who just stood there like normal.

The figure on the boat was flexing his muscles to prepare for the next few weeks of what he thought was fun. When the boat stopped, he took a moment to show everyone his biceps and gave them both a kiss. "Don't fail me now, boys," he said to them. At this point, Jo officially hated the guy.

The boat driver handed a plastic bag from Walmart to the black teen, which he substituted for a suitcase. Making sure to keep all of the contents inside the bag, he hopped onto the boat's railing and pumped a fist in the air. "He's finally arrived!" he shouted. "Sha-Lightning!" The boy lost his balance and fell into the water with a scream and a large splash.

"Whoa!" Topher exclaimed, holding his hands up in surprise, though it was obvious that he was doing it just for show. "What a way to start a season!"

"Guys, don't just stand there!" Sky snapped. "We have to help him!" She ran over to where the boy fell into the water, but his large muscular arm grabbing onto the Dock of Shame surprised her.

Spitting out water, he pulled himself up from the lake and stood proudly in front of Sky.

"Thanks but no thanks, little girl," he sputtered, water still in his mouth. "But Lightning's independent!" As he spoke, he unintentionally spat water onto Sky.

Sky walked away in fury. "The nerve of some people," she said to herself, wiping the spit from her face.

Lightning approached Chris, as he chuckled, "Lightning! Welcome to Pahkitew Island. That was quite a nasty fall there."

Lightning ran his fingers through his brown shaved hair. "It was nothing! Lightning's been through WAY worse than that." He held his lightning-shaped necklace and kissed it, perfectly portraying his self-centered personality.

What would the perfect cookie-cutter jock be without a number 1 football jersey? The jersey was dark blue and yellow, which were Lightning's favorite colors. His khaki shorts were a mixture of grey and tan, and Chris caught himself looking at Lightning's oddly-colored sky blue tennis shoes.

Lightning began to look worried, and both eyes darted towards his empty hands. "Where's my bag?" He pointed towards the group of four teens and accused, "Who took the bag?!"

Sky and Topher were shocked by Lightning's sudden accusation, and Jo only looked at them in suspicion. B, however, pulled Lightning's plastic bag from behind his back, and handed it to Lightning.

"Whoa!" Sky exclaimed. "How'd you do that?" she asked B.

"You're a wizard, Harry!" Topher told B with an arm-nudge, although nobody seemed to appreciate his reference.

B took his thumb and forefinger and ran them across his lips, imitating a zipper. This only made Lightning angry, and he attempted to charge at B. Thankfully, Jo grabbed his shoulders.

"Hold it, Big League," she interrupted. Jo now had to grab Lightning's jersey, since the shoulders weren't doing her any good. She swiped the plastic bag from his hands and looked at the contents. "Jerseys… ten deodorant sticks… protein powder? That's all you decided to bring?" The two shared a fierce stare as the next contestant arrived.

He had one foot on one of the handrail's bars, and was scouting out the campers closely, to see what he was up against. He raised an eyebrow at both Jo and Lightning, seeing as they were the most athletic-looking contestants so far.

The devious teen took his dirty beige luggage from the boat driver and gave him a sly grin. "Thanks," he snickered at him, and it was obvious that his gratitude was completely sarcastic.

The boat driver was only getting more and more fed up with these contestants, so he started driving the boat away from the Dock of Shame as the contestant was still on the last step. He wailed as he tripped forward, flailing his arms to keep his balance. Thankfully, he made it onto the Dock of Shame.

Chris held his hand out for a handshake and greeted the boy. "Our country boy, Scott, is here!"

Scott returned the handshake in indifference. "Yeah… hi. Can you tell your boat driver to pay more attention? I could've just pulled an Izzy!" he shouted at Chris, referencing the first episode of Total Drama Island, where the former contestant, Izzy, hit her chin on the Dock of Shame after falling off of the boat.

The host shot him a smirk. "You want him to come back and let you have another try?" Scott left the conversation with a "tch", to Chris's amusement.

Scott's hair was a bright tangerine, slicked back to reveal his curved hairline. His hair resembles flames, which is a bit symbolic since Scott is a major hothead. Freckles appeared in clusters on his cheeks, chest, and shoulders. The front of his white tank shirt was tucked in behind his belt; had that belt not been there, Scott's baggy jeans would slip off his legs in mere seconds. Finally, Scott was wearing dirty brown work boots, which were holding the bunches of excess denim from his pants.

Scott took a big whiff of his hairy armpit, which disgusted the other contestants. Chef even got up to sit on the opposite side of the Dock of Shame.

Jo's eyebrows furrowed as she began to sniff the air. "Any of you guys smell something weird?"

"It's that country bumpkin!" Lightning complained, pointing to Scott with both hands. He added, "Mary had a little smell." Scott only crossed his arms at this.

"No, it's not him, it smells… artificial," Jo observed. It seems that their questions were answered as the next contestant arrived on the boat.

The contestant, a bronze-skinned girl, received her purple tote bag from the boat's driver and strutted down the steps onto the dock, hand on hip. In her other hand, a bubblegum pink can of hairspray, which she was using to create suffocating clouds of aromas around her upper body.

Chris let out a wolf whistle as the girl smiled teasingly. "Lo and behold, everyone! Anne Maria is here!" The girl, Anne Maria, covered her mouth as she giggled. "You're too kind, Chris," she told him in her usual Jersey accent.

She struck a pose towards the camera, which panned to her shoes and back. Anne Maria's long black hair seemed to glisten in the sunlight. The large silver hoop earrings she had on were leaning on her solid locks of hair. Her makeup, which was beginning to run thanks to the heat, consisted of blue eyeshadow, mascara, and maroon lipstick. Her magenta top (complete with floral straps) was small enough to expose her shoulders and stomach. Anne Maria also wore ice blue capris held by a pink belt, and deep purple high heel sandals.

Jo wore a smirk as Anne Maria walked towards her and the other contestants. "You know, this isn't a how-much-makeup-can-you-wear contest." Anne Maria presented Jo with a free sample of hairspray to the face.

The next contestant was arriving on the boat, facing away from the island, crossing his arms. He had a very strange physique, as if his entire upper body was a rectangle. He was quite cross with something, but it wasn't clear what.

The boat came to a stop as the driver handed him a black backpack and a Spiderman lunch box. "Thank you," the contestant acknowledged him as he walked off the boat. The driver was speechless with confusion; the formerly angry contestant turned sincere in an instant? He decided not to think about it as he drove off to get the next contestant.

"Max!" Chris greeted, holding his hand out for them to shake. "How's it going? Great to have-"

The strange contestant only held their hand up as if to say stop. "Do you know who you're talking to?" he said, with a deep and strangely-comical voice. "I am so evil, I am evil itself! You will address me as The Great Max!"

Crickets chirped in the distance.

Max let out a triumphant "hmph" and marched away from Chris. "It appears that my malevolence has left him silent, like always." As he rubbed his hands together, he laughed in a series of low-pitched hums.

His grape-colored hair was styled into a messy bowl cut, which was a popular for boys in the late 20th century; not a fascinating fact, but it did make Max's appearance even more bizarrely childish. He had thick black eyebrows, and alongside his unusually small pupils, Max could give off quite the intimidating stare. Then again, his double chin was the most notable feature of his face, so that intimidation wouldn't do much. To make it clear that Max didn't care about how he appeared to others, he wore a plain grey long sleeved shirt, as well as matching pants. On his feet were comically large white dress shoes with peach soles.

As he walked up to the other contestants, he stood beside Sky, who rarely finds other teens shorter than her, was pleasantly surprised. She had no intention of getting to know Max, as his evil shtick was embarrassing enough to her.

A hunched-over teen was standing on the boat, looking down as if he was in a trance. As the boat got closer, everyone could hear his strange snickering. The driver handed the boy his luggage, and all while looking at a GameGuy, he took the luggage and walked down the boat's stairs without tripping. Once he approached Chris, he stuck the GameGuy in his pocket.

"Chris McLean!" croaked the contestant, as the two high-fived. "Great to meet you, hehe!" The boy looked like he was having a ball just standing in Chris's presence. Chris looked happy that after a collection of oddballs and hotheads, another sensible-looking contestant had arrived… making a total of two normal contestants.

The contestant rustled his curly auburn hair with his large hand. He wore thin-rimmed circular glasses, which is pretty much the universal sign of a nerd slash geek. He wore a shirt the color of butter with an orange collar and three warm-colored stripes, each of a different thickness. It appears that he was wearing an oversized white t-shirt underneath the striped one. His look was completed with turquoise shorts and dull orange sneakers.

"Sam, the man!" Chris said with delight. "Happy to be here?"

"Actually, I'm pretty bummed," Sam responded, reaching into his pocket to pull out his GameGuy. "My parents made me audition because I was spending too much time on this baby. Said I needed to get out of the house more. But I'm sure it's not gonna be all that bad. I've been through worse. Ever played Lowertale?" He enjoyed another one of his common laughs.

"That's the spirit, dude!" Chris told him, unsure of what Lowertale was. "And trust me, this show isn't easy, but the friendships you'll form throughout the game will be worth it." Sam nodded with half-present enthusiasm and went to join the group… only to get on his GameGuy. He noticed Jo, Lightning, Scott, Anne Maria, and Max exchange judgmental looks, but he decided to ignore them.

The next boat that was arriving carried… the boat's driver? The actual contestant appeared to be driving the boat. She stopped the boat by the Dock of Shame, and switched places with a very annoyed driver.

"See, you're having trouble steering this boat because of the velocity of the waves. You need to make sure to pay attention to the waves, and steer the boat against them. This way, you can create a smaller resultant vector," the redhead explained to the boat driver without an emotion on her face.

"…Get off of my boat," was the driver's response to the girl's advice. She grabbed her olive green suitcase and stepped off the boat.

Her blazing red hair was tied into a large bun behind her head. The large glasses she wore made her irises larger, which resembled a lush shamrock field in spring. The universal sign of a nerd slash geek applied not only to Sam, but to this girl as well. A pear-colored sweater was worn over a white collared shirt, which mirrored Sam's look yet again. The third coincidence lied at her turquoise skirt, where not a wrinkle was present. Long white socks nearly covered the girl's knees, and her outfit was complete with small black slippers.

"Scarlett! Glad you made it," Chris greeted to the girl.

"The pleasure is all mine," Scarlett said, her face devoid of emotion, like always. The two shook hands and her introduction ended there.

Anne Maria looked at Scarlett in disgust. "Ugh, is that a bun? It's larger than your head, doll. You've got a lot to learn about fashion."

Scarlett pushed her glasses up. "If the overall volume of hair is the topic of discussion, you sure are one to talk," she muttered with a smug grin. Anne Maria's mouth dropped open, and was poised to start attacking Scarlett, but Jo held her back.

"You seem to know a lot of stuff about stuff," Max pointed out. Raising an eyebrow, Scarlett responded, "I'd like to think as much." The two continued to look at each other until the next boat arrived.

The contestant this time had to be the tallest one yet. Like Scott, she had her foot on the boat's rail, but instead of looking annoyed, this girl looked optimistic. She held the rim of her safari hat as she looked around in awe at the multicolored macaws that flew above her.

The boat driver looked a little intimidated when he gave the girl her camouflage luggage. She noticed this, and tried to remedy his fear with a friendly wave. It didn't help much, as the driver went straight to the cockpit to hide.

"Well, I'll be, Chris McLean!" the girl exclaimed, tipping her hat to him. "Glad to be here."

Chris showed few signs of discomfort just by standing next to the girl, but he hoped that a high-five would help mask his fear. "G'day, mate!" he greeted, mocking her thick Australian accent. "Welcome to Pahkitew Island, Jasmine."

Jasmine, unlike most people who would take Chris's mockery as an insult, found that funny and politely giggled. "Thank you. So, this is quite the interesting ecosystem. I'm pretty sure I saw some Australian macaws fly overhead when I was on the boat."

"Yes, you noticed correctly! After pulling some strings, I was able to bring some Australian birds to Canada. Just to make this place feel more like home!"

"Oh, thank you," Jasmine reiterated, as she went to join the other contestants. Chris and Chef shared a laugh, as they successfully kept it hidden that the two illegally smuggled the birds over to Pahkitew Island.

Next to Sky, Jasmine was the most appropriately dressed for Total Drama conditions. The aforementioned safari hat she wore kept the sun out of her eyes, and her wispy black hair was tied in a ponytail behind her head to keep any strands of hair out of her face. Jasmine also wore a small jacket and khaki short shorts that both matched her hat; both also came with a collection of pockets and zippers to store various items in. Underneath her jacket was a plain white t-shirt that had been cut off at the belly button. For footwear, she had on long white socks that had been rolled down slightly, and swampy green work boots. Overall, her clothing was beneficial, as light-colored clothing doesn't absorb heat as much as dark-colored clothes. Jasmine's clothes also contrasted with her dark chocolate skin to create a harmony of pleasing aesthetics.

Chris looked off into the distance after Jasmine's introduction was complete. "That's strange… the boat driver doesn't usually take this long. Where is he?"

"He must be off to get the next contestant," a mousey voice beside him responded.

The host turned to his side to see a girl with wavy platinum blonde hair and oddly beautiful teal eyes. Her skin was as pale as a vampire's, and her lips took on a dusty rose color. The girl had on a forest green sweater with baggy sleeves and a sky blue collar, as well as a black skirt, violet leggings, and small black derby shoes. The cool color scheme of her clothing represented her love for nature and the universe.

"Ah-AHHHH!" Chris jumped at least two feet to the side, scaring the other contestants. Scott was even knocked off of the Dock of Shame by those who jumped back.

Chris cleared his throat and pretended like nothing happened as he said, "Ah, everyone. This is Dawn." He thought it was most appropriate to shake her hand, but Dawn didn't seem to shake back; she was giving off a half-smile. With that, she walked over to the group of frightened contestants, although she seemed to lack any luggage.

Scott, who had just been pulled out of the water by Jasmine, stomped up to Dawn and pressed a finger onto her chest. "You had better not scare me like that, you hear me?" he ordered furiously.

Dawn didn't seem fazed by this. "Would you like to borrow a stick of deodorant from Lightning's collection?" was her simple response. Scott's reaction was a blend of fury and confusion.

Even Scarlett couldn't explain this. "How did she know that?" she asked, adjusting her glasses in fascination.

The muscular jock put fists on his hips and pretended to display confidence. "Sha-please," he started, as the mere inclusion of the prefix "sha-" caused Dawn to tilt her head in uncertainty. "She probably just smelled the ginger's B.O.! Easy."

"But how did she know your name, genius?!" Jo yelled, holding a finger to Lightning's face close enough to make him scared. "AND the fact that you have a literal deodorant collection?" Lightning just shrugged and brushed the conversation off to the side, making Jo angrier.

Dawn stopped beside B, the other person who didn't bring luggage, and her face lit up when she told him, "Your aura is exceptionally purplish-green. Oh, it suits you, though!" This seemed to make B happy, and although it may not seem like much, that's the most happiness that one can get out of him.

"Cool," complimented Topher, giving Dawn a thumbs-up. "What color is my aura, then?"

"Hmm…" Dawn said to herself. "Your aura is a mix between dark green and a faded orange." Topher exclaimed, "Yes!" for no apparent reason other than being overly-positive. Dawn decided to refrain from explaining that dark green meant jealousy and faded orange meant a longing for youthfulness.

The returning boat put the unusual mood to a stop by bringing in the next contestant. He looked very eager to set foot on the famous Dock of Shame (or its remake, anyway). With both hands gripping the rail, the contestant was looking at his competition, but for him, he wanted to refer to them as his new friends. Then again, he wasn't the most social person in the world, but he does have good intentions.

The boy took his suitcase from the driver, and approached Chris with a cheesy grin. "Hey, it's Chris McLean!" he called out to the celebrity. "It's great to see you in person."

A nervous hand ran through the contestant's spiky brown hair as he and the other campers shared looks. His brown eyes exhibited some fear, as well. His outfit was quite simple, which consisted of a normal collared shirt the color of tropical waters, loose fit jeans without a single tear in them, and grey and white bowling shoes. Along with his dark tan skin, this contestant fit right in with the rich exotic atmosphere of Pahkitew Island.

"Great to see you too, Mike," Chris welcomed with a fist-bump. "You can set your stuff down over there, and go join the other contestants," he directed, pointing to the pile of luggage.

"Alright," he replied, with a shy voice trying to be completely excited. He did so, and advanced towards the group of campers. "Hey, guys. Guess we're gonna be staying here for the next few weeks." Mike ended his sentence with a nervous grin.

Jasmine, who hated to see anyone lonely, spoke up, "Yeah, I'm looking forward to it."

"Same here," Topher chimed in, pumping his fists in the air. "It's gonna be epic!"

Anne Maria scoffed. "Pipe down, number two! You're too noisy," she snapped as she continued to spray her hair. Topher, unsure of whether "number two" meant Chris's doppelgänger or feces, put his arms down by his sides and began whistling.

A skinny girl was arriving on the next boat, waving to everyone on the Dock of Shame. She appeared to have two vintage leather suitcases on both sides; one strawberry pink and the other baby blue.

"Thanks, mister," she told the driver, who returned a sincere smile. The girl dropped her suitcases by the others and ran up to Chris, hugging him as soon as he was in reach.

"This is so awesome!" she squealed. "It's so incredible that I get to meet you, Chris!" Chris's arms were in the air, frozen by surprise. He stammered to get at least one word out, but the girl continued, holding her hand out. "I'm Zoey."

Chris, who had calmed down a little, said, "Yes, yes, nice to meet you, Zoey." The girl, Zoey, began to shake Chris's hand with both of hers, to express her elation.

Her red hair was tied into two short pigtails, and was held together by a beautiful flower hair pin. Short diamond earrings hung from her ears that when in exposure to sunlight look like small stars. In order to make a good first impression, she had applied mascara and lipstick prior to the boat ride. A black choker ringed around her neck. She sweetly tilted her head at Chris, and her pigtail almost blended in with her cherry red sleeveless tube top when it was overlapped. Two red bracelets were worn on each arm. To prevent her from sweating so much in sunny conditions, Zoey had folded the pant legs of her golden-brown capris halfway between her knees and ankles. To complete her look, she wore tan sandals with black straps. Her main inspiration for her outfit was both indie and retro clothing, which shows just how friendly and open Zoey can be with her interests.

As she went to join the group of her fellow contestants, Zoey wasn't sure who to stand next to. She noticed Mike smiling at her, so she walked up to introduce herself again. "Hi, I'm Zoey!" she said, holding her hands behind her back.

The boy looked nervous, but attempted to keep smiling. "N-Nice to meet you. I'm Mike." At the same time, the two held out their hands for a handshake, but since they both expected to wait for the other person to react, they didn't engage in the handshake just yet. After realizing what had just happened, the two started laughing as Zoey was the one who accepted the handshake in the end. "Sorry about that," giggled Mike, hoping he didn't seem too weird to the girl.

"No worries," Zoey assured him, waving her small hand.

Chef, who was still sitting where the luggage was, chuckled silently to himself, but only loud enough for Chris to hear. "Those two are too cute together," he told Chris. "What do you think? They gonna be better than Gwen and Trent?"

"Didn't Gwent break up?" Chris asked him, remembering the misadventures of Total Drama Action, the show's second season. "Besides, what would their ship name be? 'Zike?' 'Moey?' Nah, they won't work." The host made sure to keep his voice down so that no one else could overhear their conversation. Chef sounded a sneer replete with annoyance; he was pretty much sick of Chris at this point.

Blinding flashes of light came from the returning boat. A young blonde girl was spinning around, posing for several photographers scattered around her. As the boat drew nearer to the cast, Chris noticed the driver's twitching eye from the cameras' annoying clicks and flashes.

She applied a layer of lipstick while walking down the boat's stairs, as her paparazzi each carried a suitcase or two behind her. Her pink suitcases were decorated with small golden sequins, and combined with the amount of rays the sun gave off today, her shining suitcases should be visible from space.

"Hey everyone, Dakota here!" the girl announced, strutting down the Dock of Shame like it was a runway. It was a wonder how her bubblegum high heels avoided any gaps in the wood, which would thus result in a nasty fall. As she stopped in front of Chris, who was about to introduce himself, Dakota pivoted on her feet towards the paparazzi.

"Check it out," she said, posing for the camera while holding up an arm to present Pahkitew Island. "I'm here at Camp Wawanakwa! Can you believe it?"

Chris said nothing to this; he only continued to stand in place with a foolish grin. A couple of the other contestants snickered, and others looked to the side, embarrassed for the girl.

"Pahkitew Island," one of the photographers corrected. "It's Pahkitew Island."

"Meh," Dakota dismissed with a hand gesture. "Just edit that out later."

"So," Chris began. "If it hasn't been clear to anybody yet, this is Dakota!" He snapped a couple times to get Chef's attention, who stood up and walked towards the photographers.

The host bent over laughing, grabbing his hip for support. "And this," he managed to say while laughing. "This… is the exit!" Chef pushed the entire paparazzi backwards, towards the boat steps. They all tripped as Chef shoved them back, but they ended up on the boat in the end.

"Wha-?!" Dakota shrieked, almost dropping her lipstick. "You can't do that!" She let out an elongated "no" as the boat left with the cameramen.

At this point, Dakota had dropped to her knees with tears forming into bubbles at her cheeks. Chris walked up to comfort her. "Don't worry, there are cameras all over the island. And the best part: no irritating flashes!"

"B-But… what about during the night? How will the cameras be able to see me clearly in the dark?" Dakota whimpered.

Chris shrugged. "Wait 'til morning?"

"Aw, this stinks…" she complained as she walked towards the group.

Dakota was definitely one of the more pleasing contestants to look at out of the cast. She was a model after all. Each and every hair was straightened to perfection, and almost every inch of her face had some form of makeup on it. A thin golden necklace hung from her neck. Her top was almost identical to Zoey's, except it was pink and the belly section wasn't cut off. Hot pink jeans modeled Dakota's thin and curvaceous legs, but the pink-ness didn't stop there with her previously-mentioned baby pink high heels.

As Dakota finally joined her fellow contestants on the dock, Topher shot her a smirk and two finger-guns. Dakota smiled back and blew him a flirtatious kiss, which only resulted in a cloud of hairspray to the face from Anne Maria. The two began slapping at each other, but nobody attempted to stop them. "It's kinda funny watching two pretty girls fight," Scott even said with a sly laugh.

Mid-laugh, Chris was slapped across the face by a short teen that had somehow appeared by his side, just like Dawn.

"O-OW! What was that for?!"

The teen held his hands as soon as he saw Chris's angered face. "S-Sorry about that, it was just kinda in the heat of the moment…"

"Where did YOU come from?" Mike asked the teen.

Trying to keep calm, the teen sighed and answered, "I've been standing here for, what, the past thirty seconds?"

"Really?" Chris asked doubtfully. "Didn't even notice you, Dave."

"You didn't notice the boat, either?" Dave questioned, raising a hand towards the boatless lake. To this, Chris shook his head. "Well, I guess it doesn't matter. Nice to meet you, Mr. McLean," he greeted.

"That's _Chris_ ," the host corrected. "Mr. McLean just makes me feel old." After rubbing his head, Chris held a hand out for the boy, who bluntly but politely passed on the handshake.

Of course Chris would be surprised that Dave refused to shake his hand! The audacity of refusing a handshake to a celebrity was one reason, but the main reason was solely Chris's first impression of the boy. Dave was an Indian boy with neatly combed hair, who wore a collared light yellow shirt, a teal vest, dark brown khakis held up by a leather belt, and monochrome sneakers without a speck of dirt on them (oddly enough, not even the soles were dirty!). His appearance and personality (all slaps excluded) suggested that he would be used to formal behaviors such as handshakes. But…

"I-I kind of have a thing with germs, so…"

Chris cocked an eyebrow to this, and began to feel offended.

"No no no! That's not what I meant! It's just that… germs… your hair… your hand…!" Dave was pretty much waving his arms around at this point, trying to get Chris to understand his motives.

Chef handled the situation by pounding the wood with his fist. "Boy, you haven't seen germs until I serve you lunch! So stop whining!"

Forget how angry he was; Chef's raspy voice alone made Dave wince. "S-Sure thing," he hesitantly complied, giving him a thumbs-up.

Dave felt lonely as he walked up to the group of campers. Nobody said anything to the poor boy after the awkward situation that just occurred. All he could do was look around at his competition.

In his audition video, Dave said that he'd be "all about the money", and "not there to make friends." But, in actuality, Dave's reason for auditioning was to meet new people; specifically cute girls. Looking at the others, Dave was ranking the girls from hottest to ugliest. Sky, Zoey, Dakota, Dawn, Jasmine, Anne Maria, Scarlett, Jo.

Melodious humming was heard in the distance, as the boat returned with a pink blur. The humming came from a girl, who was dancing gracefully for everyone to see. Small birds were circling around her, chirping in happiness. Once everyone on the Dock of Shame came into view for the girl, she transitioned from humming to singing.

"Hello, hello, to all my new friends," she sang, hand on heart. "I hope to survive this game 'til the end! A brand new adventure begins this day, as- AH!"

Chef grabbed the back of the singer's shirt, and pulled her off of the boat. The petite birds that flew around the girl picked up her pink suitcase with their feet and carried it to the luggage pile. Disregarding Chef's rudeness, the girl twirled around and turned to the birds. "Thank you, little friends!" she called out as they flew into the forest.

Chris was cleaning his ear with his pinky finger as the girl approached him. "I'm so happy to meet you, Chris!" Her cheeks went rosy as she curtsied. "My name is Ella."

"Yes, Ella, it's nice to meet you." Chris wasn't expecting the girl to be this excited about meeting him.

With lips as red as a cherry, hair as black as midnight, and skin as white as a pearl, Ella was the splitting image of a princess. Her bobbed hair was held together with a headband, complete with an innocent little bow. A matching pink choker was worn around her thin neck; although a choker doesn't seem like something Ella would choose to wear, it surprisingly worked for her. She could quite possibly wear a pink skull necklace and nobody would question it. She wore a pink blouse with white puffy sleeves, as well as a wavy silk skirt of many pink shades. On her arms were pink (are you honestly surprised?) opera gloves, and on her feet were small dainty ballet slippers. You guessed it, they're also pink.

As Ella tiptoed over to the group of campers, Dawn leaned in a bit closer so that Ella would be able to hear her small voice.

"That was quite impressive, Ella. Are you a bird whisperer?"

"Of course," Ella said, cheerfully. "I am a friend to all of nature."

"Most enlightening," Dawn replied, tapping her chin in approval.

A thin, tiny figure was spinning around and around on the returning boat. From grabbing the handrail in one second to pointing at the sky in another, it was almost as if the boy was a marble in a pinball machine.

"Look at the beautiful birds!" he shouted, his voice peppered with panting from running so much. "Look at the sparkling water! Look at the fresh air!"

As the boat slowed down, the hyper teen jogged up to the boat driver. He stuck an oversized orange suitcase in his hands, and he fell to the ground with a yelp.

Chef reluctantly grabbed the poor boy's wrist and pulled him up to his feet. When he noticed who picked him up, he stuttered so hard that he started biting his tongue.

"Y-You're… I-I know… it's... hey!" The boy held out his hands in what appeared to be excitement, but that "excitement" didn't reach Chef.

Chef thought that "You're welcome, kid," was a good enough answer. He grabbed him by the shoulders, flipped the boy around, and pushed him towards Chris.

"Cameron," Chris greeted. "Welcome to Pahkitew Island, buddy!" He raised his hand for a fist bump.

The boy, Cameron, took a deep breath, and punched Chris's fist as hard as he can. At the same time, the two howled out in pain.

"OW!"

"OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!"

"What was that for?" Chris asked angrily, shaking his hand ferociously.

Cameron was now scrunched up on the Dock of Shame, sticking his pinkened knuckles in his mouth to deal with the pain from the extreme fist bump. Chris offered his hand to help him up, and Cameron grabbed it with his free hand. A much nicer way to help someone off of the floor than Chef's method indeed.

"Sorry, sir," Cameron apologized with a meek voice. "I don't get out much, so I've never given anyone a fist bump before."

Chris patted the boy on the back to sympathize with him. "Yep, I understand. Being trapped in a bubble your whole life must've been difficult." Cameron seemed a bit embarrassed when Chris said this aloud. "But if you start to feel homesick, or you just can't handle the pressure of reality television, just let me know, and the boat will come back to bring you home."

"Got it," Cameron accepted with a firm nod. Little did Chris know, Cameron was one of the biggest Total Drama fans out of the bunch, alongside Zoey, Topher, Mike, and Ella, to name a few. Cameron knew that the boat Chris mentioned wasn't the boat he was just on; it was the Boat of Losers. He also knew that once you leave the island, you're gone for good. And although Cameron isn't excited for the challenges of this season, he doesn't plan to be a quitter. He just ignored his thoughts and returned to Chris's conversation.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I may not be a winner, but I definitely won't be a loser!" he said, optimistically adjusting his glasses. Chris smiled proudly, and held out his other hand for a fist bump redo. "Don't hit it as hard this time, okay?" The bubble boy beamed and raised his fist.

A new world record was set for the slowest fist bump ever.

Chris wiggled his fingers into the air and made an explosion noise. Cameron looked confused, but then seemed to understand. "Oh, I see, because Pahkitew means 'explosion' in Cree!"

"No, no, that's not it at all! It's just something cool and extra people add to their fist bumps."

"Really? Cool! Let's do it again!" Cameron eagerly shouted. A majority of the campers groaned as Chris and Cameron exchanged a third fist bump. Chris remade the explosion noise, but Cameron pointed at his wiggling fingers and said, "Look! It's a jellyfish!" That line alone made the campers groan again.

Cameron appearance was as innocent as his personality was. He was a skinny African-Canadian teen with brown shaved hair (which made his circular head shape more apparent to others). Thick circular glasses took up almost half of his face. His clothing consisted of a deep red hoodie, yellow athletic shorts, white gym socks pulled up to his knees, and orange sneakers with tight black laces.

When Cameron went to join the campers, Mike raised his voice to get Cameron's attention. "I take it you're afraid of Chef?"

"Deadly," was Cameron's whispered response. Mike gulped over the fact that Cameron only knew Chef from TV.

Another contestant stood proudly on the boat, holding his oversized suitcase, complete with wheels, a pull-out handle, and zippers galore. Once the boat stopped, the teen marched towards the steps, pulling his suitcase behind him. "Thank you, sir," he addressed the boat driver, whose face and expression screamed, "I want to drive this boat off a waterfall and see what happens to me."

The other campers looked intimidated as the sound of large leather boots marched across the Dock of Shame at a steady beat. Once the teen approached Chris, he stood at attention and saluted him.

"Brick McArthur," he announced. "Reporting for duty."

Chris felt it necessary to salute back to Brick. "Good morning, Brick! At ease, soldier." Brick did just that, and interlocked his thumbs behind his back.

"Great to meet you, man. You can go set your bag over there, and join the other contestants."

The cadet saluted once more, and responded, "Sir, yes sir!"

As Brick went over to the pile of luggage, Chris felt the need to point out that Brick didn't need to call him "sir," but he decided to let it go. Unlike Cameron, addressing others using formal titles seemed to fit Brick.

The cadet kept his black hair shaved in a buzz cut that revealed few freckles by his ears. His thick unibrow made it seem like Brick was always angry, but that was rarely the case. His military background was made clear with his army green t-shirt and his grey identification tags. An oversized (in width) black belt held up his teal shorts. Brick's most notable feature is his aforementioned military boots that were polished to perfection; the impression Dakota's heels made on the contestants didn't hold a candle to Brick's.

No one said a word as Brick joined the group of campers. The cadet looked to the side in disappointment; apparently he had intimidated them too much, although that wasn't his intention.

When the boat returned, not one, but two teens were standing side by side on it. The two girls were identical twins who wore the same clothing, but their expressions were anything but identical.

Once the Dock of Shame came into view, one of the twins greeted everyone with a smile and a gentle wave.

However, the other twin wore a sour face. She slid in front of the kind girl, cutting her off, and began waving even more extravagantly than her twin.

"Hellooo," she cooed at the other contestants with a false smile, peering at them through a small opening she created with her eyelids.

"U-Um, Amy?" the nice twin piped up. "Could you maybe, move over-"

The rude twin cut her off yet again with a loud shush. "Don't be rude, Samey!"

When the boat stopped, the nice twin, Samey, was told by her sister, Amy, to carry all of their bags. While Amy strutted down the stairs in an attractive fashion, Samey struggled to lift her knees to walk. Eventually, Samey fell over and landed face-first on the Dock of Shame. The bags scattered everywhere, but nothing fell into the water.

As Samey moved their luggage to the proper spot, Amy approached Chris without a single care regarding her twin.

"It's our cheerleader twins: Amy and Samey! Glad you two could make it," Chris announced to the group.

Amy flipped her hair to the side. "Thanks for using my name first!" Chris's face was flooded with uncertainty, but he continued to smile anyway.

Samey hobbled towards Chris and Amy, physically tired from the luggage incident. "If that makes you tired, you won't get very far, Samey," Chris remarked.

"Excuse me, but… my name isn't Samey."

Chris raised an eyebrow. "Amy says that everyone calls you Samey."

"It's just short for 'Second Amy.'" Amy said, with a grin.

"N-No, I'm…" Samey began, trying to stay calm. "I'm Sammy, not Samey!"

Sam chuckled and raised a fist in the air. "Hey, that's cool. We've got similar names! I'm Sam."

Amy grabbed her twin's shoulders and massaged them intensely. "Oops! Too bad! There's already a Sam here. We don't want to be confused, do we? Guess that makes you Samey."

Samey looked up at Chris with sorrowful eyes, who shrugged at her. "Aw, fine," she surrendered. "I'll be Samey."

"Good," Amy sneered, walking Samey to the group of contestants with her hands still on her shoulders.

The two girls are physically identical in every way, save for Amy's mole on the right side of her face. They both had short blonde hair, soft blue eyes, lipstick, and white high heel boots. They also wore matching raspberry red cheerleader uniforms; a v-neck crop top and a short skirt.

Scott was looking at Amy very closely, as a cunning smirk grew on his face.

"Ugh," Amy winced. "What do you think you're doing, trash bag?"

The farm boy crossed his arms and leaned in towards Amy. "You're pretty." He received a slap on the face, but his smile remained. Amy grabbed Samey's wrist and squeezed it tight. "C'mon, Samey! Let's go somewhere less dirty!"

Samey gasped as Amy's grip nearly cut the circulation to her hand. "O-Okay…"

For the last time, the boat returned with the final contestant. He was using a pair of binoculars to watch those on the Dock of Shame. Before the boat came to a complete stop, the boy stuffed his binoculars in his backpack, grabbed the boat's handrails, and flipped onto the dock. Chris, Chef, and the other contestants applauded him. Well, except for Lightning.

"Child's play," he exclaimed, pointing a thumb at his chest. "Lightning can do that in his sleep!"

"I don't know," Chris began. "Need I remind you of your 'accident'?" He laughed as Lightning's fist clenched.

The host took a step towards the contestant, who backed up in complete terror. "Hey, Shawn? You doing okay, buddy?"

Shawn let a high-pitched yelp and threw his backpack onto the dock. As fast as you could even say the word "backpack," the boy pulled out a pair of wooden nunchucks and stretched them out, aiming the butt of one of the sticks directly at a frightened Chris.

"Banzai!" Shawn cried out, swinging his weapon in circles around his body, only for one of the wooden sticks to swing straight in between his legs, right into his-

"AIYEEEEEE!"

The campers cringed at the pathetic sight before them. Chef stood up with a sigh and dragged a squealing Shawn by the leg towards the other contestants. Chef let go of his leg, and tried to take Shawn's backpack off.

Still lying down, Shawn asked with shock, "H-Hey, what do you think you're doing, wise guy?!"

"Boy, I'm gonna have to confiscate this!" Chef dictated, pulling the rim of his sweater. "What makes you think you can bring weapons to a reality TV show?!"

"But...! But you can't do that! All of my zombie apocalypse survival supplies are in there!" The campers seemed confused. Zoey even whispered to Mike, "I thought people being afraid of zombies were only in movies!"

"And a better life is waiting for me anywhere outside of this show! Yet here I am, and yet here you are!" Chef snapped back at him. Shawn was gripping onto the dock's wooden planks, reaching out for his backpack.

"Have some sympathy!" Shawn retorted with voice-straining anger. "It's a life or death situation!"

"Do as I say and it won't be!" Chef ordered, dropping Shawn's backpack a couple feet away from the luggage pile.

After he gave up, Shawn managed to stand up, but not without making sure to leave some space between him and the other campers.

Shawn's old green toque covered his entire forehead, as a result of his wariness of other people. His dusty brown hair was styled in a windswept mullet, and small whiskers were visible on his chin. He wore a baggy beige sweater, an orange life vest, a normal black belt, dark blue jeans, and black tennis shoes. Possibly excluding his life vest, Shawn's appearance suggested a very lazy and laidback teenager, but looks definitely can be deceiving.

"Guess that's everyone," Chris told the campers. "Now all that's left is a group photo!"

Jo scoffed. "A group photo? Can you get any cheesier?"

"Oh, don't be bitter," Sky told her. "Let's just get this over with, and then we can get to the challenges!"

The boat that brought everyone here hadn't left since Shawn got off, so Chris stood on the boat for a better view of the Dock of Shame. He pulled out a camera, and let the campers get into poses.

B stood in the middle of the crowd, letting Dawn sit on his right shoulder. Topher had climbed up his other shoulder and held up a peace sign. Dakota and Anne Maria were sitting back-to-back in front of B. Amy stood in front of Samey and held up her arms in enjoyment. Samey leaned over to the side so that the camera could catch her face. Jasmine had placed her hands on Samey's tender shoulders. Brick was saluting to the camera, unaware that Scott was giving him bunny ears. Scott was hugging Jo, who simply refused to smile or look at the camera. While flexing his muscles, Lightning held Cameron on one arm and Ella (who had attracted a bird or two) on the other. Max was facing forward with a furious expression. Scarlett used his head as a table of sorts and rested her elbow on it. Mike and Zoey did nothing special; they both side-hugged each other and flashed cheesy smiles. Shawn crossed his arms and smirked, while Sam played his GameGuy, not giving an ounce of attention to the camera.

If you haven't noticed yet, the only two people who haven't been mentioned in this photo are Sky and Dave. Dave had attempted to hold Sky's hand for the picture, but she decided to wave with that same hand at the last second. Dave held his arm in defeat, but managed to keep a fair smile.

"Okay, is everyone ready?" Chris called out to the campers, peeking from behind the camera. "Everyone say… Pahkitew!"

"Pahkitew!"

Sam looked up from his GameGuy. "Wait, what does Pahkitew mean again?"

At the exact same time, both Sky and Cameron responded, "It means 'explosion' in Cree."

"Whoa," Cameron said, looking at Sky with amazement.

"Whoa…" Sky said. Not because she and Cameron had spoken simultaneously, but because she had realized something. "Wait…!"

Chef pressed a button on a small silver remote. One of the "branches" of the Dock of Shame shook, and a large explosion formed right where the campers were standing. With blood-curdling screams, they all fell into the water, and struggled to stay afloat.

Chris and Chef plugged their ears until the deafening noise of the explosion had passed. The host turned his camera around to show a digital picture of the campers flying in the air, causing the easily-angered contestants to start yelling and cursing all at the same time. A couple short censor beeps were even edited over the audio.

"What the heck?!"

"Haha, real funny!"

"You're a dead man, Chris!"

"What the (censored) is this sha-(censored)?!"

* * *

After all the campers swam back up to shore, Chris had gathered them up by what was left of the Dock of Shame.

Chris and Chef were both enjoying a hearty laugh and clutched their stomachs. Anne Maria plucked a can of hairspray out of her hair and chucked it at the host. "What kinda sick joke was that? My hair and makeup are ruined!"

Zoey put her hand on the Jersey girl's back. "Don't worry, I'm sure it's nothing to worry ab-AAAHHHHH!" Anne Maria had turned around to face Zoey. Her eyelids were stained black which made her face look like a skull, and her mascara and lipstick ran down her face like tears and blood, respectively. And for some reason, Anne Maria's skin seemed… lighter.

Even Brick screamed and fainted at the horrid sight.

"Well, I guess it's appropriate to say that I half-heartedly apologize for wasting Anne Maria's so-called beauty products." Chris said, looking directly at Anne Maria for a reaction.

Anne Maria's hand went straight into her hair, reaching for anything to throw at the host. "Ooh, just you wait until I get my hands on another can!"

Chris pretended to look scared, which made Topher laugh. "Haha, good one, Chris! You truly are the master of comedy."

"Thank you, Topher," Chris said politely, borderlining sarcasm. "Now, let's get down to business." Chef handed him a clipboard between sentences.

"I've already selected the two teams that will be competing against each other for the first half of the season. When I call your name, please go stand by the red flag." He pointed to Chef, who was sticking a tall flagpole into the ground. The flag was triangular, and had cartoon drawing of an tiger on it. Chris took a look at his clipboard and began reading the names.

"B."

"Topher."

"Shawn."

"Anne Maria."

"Cameron."

"Scarlett."

"Max."

"Ella."

"Dawn."

"Dakota."

"And… Sam."

Chris watched as Sam and Dakota finished walking over to the red flag before continuing. "Your team name will be known as the ' _Waneyihtam Maskwak_ ', which in Cree means, 'Ferocious Tigers.'"

"Um, no, sorry… wrong. That means the Confused Bears," Sky pointed out.

"Well," Chris laughed. "I guess that makes you the Confused Bears. As for the other team, you can stay where you are." Chef walked by and placed a flag identical to the other one by the group, except it was green and it featured an eagle.

"This team… which should have been the Soaring Eagles… includes…"

"Dave."

"Brick."

"Sky."

"Scott."

"Jo."

"Amy."

"Samey."

"Lightning."

"Zoey."

"Jasmine."

"And… Mike."

"Your team is the ' _Pimâpotew Kinosewak_ ,' which is Cree for… what, exactly?" He turned to Sky, who smiled and replied, "The, um, Floating Salmon."

"Floating Salmon?!" Lightning asked, approaching Chris. "What the heck kinda name is the Floating Salmon?"

Chris held up his hands to stop Lightning. "Don't ask me. Chef…?"

Chef was playing with Shawn's nunchucks on the Dock of Shame. "Cheap online translator. Darn thing made me waste 99 cents!"

"Guess that means you're gonna need to get us some new flags," Chris told him. Chef stood up, dropping Shawn's nunchucks in the process, and his raised hand was blurred out for the viewing audience. The man stood up and headed towards the main lodge in defeat.

"Can we hurry this up?" Scarlett asked, still squeezing water out of her skirt.

"By all means," Chris assured, before snorting as a substitute for quiet laughter. "You guys are gonna have to watch this episode's reruns! Your faces were so classic!"

The host continued chuckling until he noticed blank, annoyed stares coming from the twenty-two campers in front of him. Even B and Ella were annoyed. He cleared his throat before continuing.

"Fine, I'll show you some mercy. From where you're standing, you should be able to see your cabins." They were hidden by clusters of trees, but were still recognizable as the iconic Total Drama cabins. "The cabin on the left will be for Team Maskwak, and the cabin on the left is Team Kinosewak."

"And to make sure that this show keeps its age rating, guys bunk with guys, and girls bunk with girls." Chris eyed the teens for the most perverted one out of the group, approaching them after he made a decision. "Right, Scott?"

"Just get out of my face," Scott threatened with exasperation, pointing a finger directly at Chris's throat.

"Right-o," Chris replied, slowly backing away from the farm boy in fear. "I will give everyone half an hour to unpack, and to meet their teammates. Because after those thirty minutes, the first challenge of Total Drama Revenge will begin!"

The campers all exchanged worried looks. Although campers like Jo were looking forward to the challenges Chris had to offer, they weren't expecting them to happen this early.

"Not too far from the cabins, you will find our confessional outhouse," Chris explained.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Chris:** "Here, you can share your thoughts with our audience. It's the perfect place for ranting, venting, and gossiping about other campers! Think of it as your drama-free haven."

 **Zoey:** "Wow! I can't believe I'm actually in the Total Drama confessional! It's so exciting! And all the campers seem so nice! (she stops to think) Well, most of them, anyway. If there's one person in particular I want to talk about, it's gotta be Mike. He's so nice, and friendly, and he's even kinda cute! I can just tell we're going to get along great."

 **Dave:** "So, Sky, huh? Pretty girl... alright, I kind of have a crush on her. Yeah, but what are the chances of her getting together with me? At least we're on the same team, so I could still have a chance! (he sighed dreamily, and then his eyes shot wide open) Ah-AHHHH! BUGS!"

 **Max:** "Hmm… that Scarlett. She is certainly a promising individual. Her brain is truly remarkable, and she would make a great asset to my team... of one! With her help, we can take over the world! (he laughs maniacally, then swallows a fly and chokes)

 **Shawn:** (he has his arms wrapped around his legs, shaking with terror) "O-Okay, that last guy who used the confessional? I heard him say, 'their brain is remarkable,' and something about 'taking over the world!' I knew it! The zombie virus has gotta be somewhere on Pahkitew Island!"

 **Samey:** "This is just awful! The only reason I auditioned for Total Drama was to get _away_ from Amy… and now here we are, on the same team. And what's worse, I'm still Samey! (she sighs and looks at the floor) Well, I shouldn't be complaining too much. I'm used to all this anyways."

 **Dave:** (he's leaned up against the confessional wall, hyperventilating) "O-Oxygen… I need… oxygen…!"

* * *

 **(Pimâpotew Kinosewak Cabin - Girls Side)**

"Sorry girls," Jo announced to her female teammates. "I'm gettin' a top bunk." She tossed her large bag of luggage onto one of the bunk beds, letting a creak and a dull clang fill the cabin.

"I call this one!" Amy shouted, running up to a bunk bed and pushing herself up to the top bunk. "Samey can sleep… there." She pointed directly to the bunk below her.

Sky had already had enough of Amy. "Amy, you shouldn't boss Sammy around like that! Let her choose a bed for herself!"

"Huh? Who's that?" Amy asked with a loud voice, holding a hand up to her ear. "Her name is Samey, NOT Sammy! Get it right, Feathers!"

The athlete gasped at this comment. Her stare became ice cold, but Samey tapped her on the shoulder before she could fire a comment back.

"It's okay," Samey told her. "You can call me Samey. It'll just cause less trouble for everyone."

Sky picked Samey's hand off of her shoulder, but stopped in the middle of doing so, as she was too focused on groaning.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Sky:** "Listen, I'm a pretty major athlete. And as an athlete, teamwork and good sportsmanship are very important to me. That's why it burns me up to see someone get pushed around like that! If Amy keeps this up, she'll be the first person to go home. I'll make sure of it!"

* * *

"Fine, I'll let it go for now," Sky assured, shooting Amy a stern glare not too long after speaking.

Jasmine set her hat to the side and brushed a hand through her sweaty black hair. "If you girls w-wouldn't mind, could I get the last top bunk?"

"Sure, I won't mind," Zoey said, setting her vintage suitcases beside one of the bunk beds.

Jo raised an eyebrow. "You don't need to act all modest. What's your deal?"

"Oh, it's actually not anything to worry about," Jasmine lied, her arms stiffening without her noticing. "I just have a teeny issue with confined spaces. No biggie."

"Is sleeping on a bottom bunk really that bad for claustrophobic people?" Amy pointed out.

"I-I don't really feel comfortable talking about it…"

Zoey patted the top mattress of the bunk bed she was standing beside. "Here, Jasmine. Take this one."

"Ah, thank you, Zoey," Jasmine said with a hug. "I owe you one."

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Samey:** "Jasmine told us about her fear of small spaces. So does that mean that I can tell everybody about my fear of Amy? Not likely…"

* * *

 **(Pimâpotew Kinosewak Cabin - Boys Side)**

"Whoa, awesome!" Brick exclaimed as he set foot in the cabin. This resulted in four confused stares directed at the cadet.

Dave set his bag by one of the bunk beds, and sat on the bottom bunk. As soon as he did, he jumped back up, hitting his head on the wood above him. "O-Ow! Are these mattresses made of stone?"

Brick had climbed up the bunk bed Dave had just sat on, and laid out on the hard mattress. "What are you talking about? It feels like a dream!"

"Was he dropped on his head as a kid?" Dave asked himself, rubbing his forehead. Scott snickered as he passed by Dave, and remarked, "You shouldn't be talking."

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Brick:** "Back at cadets, our bunk beds had no mattresses. We had to sleep on cold, hard metal sheets. Every time we woke up, our skin had X patterns on it! Compared to those, these beds are like heaven!"

* * *

Mike was still looking for which bunk to pick, but decided to start a conversation instead. "I hope we all become good friends for the game."

"Sorry pal," Lightning refused, who had jumped onto the top of a bunk bed without using his arms. "In competitions like this one, Lightning doesn't do friends!"

"Same goes for me," Scott added. "As far as I'm concerned, this game's every man for himself."

Mike, who usually isn't one to get angry easily, crossed his arms at Scott. "That's a sore way of putting it. What about our team?"

"Enh, team schmeam." Mike couldn't find anything to say to this, nor could anyone else.

The only thing that could be done was to start up a new conversation, and that's exactly what Dave did. "So, is there someone you guys have your eye on?"

Lightning rubbed his hands together and let his legs dangle off of the bed. "Oh, yeah, definitely. That Dakota girl? She's hella smokin'!"

Mike grabbed his elbow and started tapping it with all fingers. "Well, I mean… I think Zoey's really pretty."

"Aww," Scott said, completely intrigued with the conversation. It was obvious that he meant to make fun of girls who have these kinds of conversations with each other.

Mike didn't find this funny. "Well then, who do you like, Scott?"

"The honey with the cheerleader uniform. She's a hottie."

"Scott, there's two of those," Mike pointed out.

Scott leaned on one of the bed's wooden posts to get comfortable. "I'm talkin' about the loud one, Sandy!"

Dave coughed into his arm, most likely on purpose to break the silence. "There was so much wrong with that sentence… what about you, Brick?" Brick, who had been attempting to fall asleep, opened his eyes and grabbed the side of his mattress to look below him.

"What about me?" he asked, puzzled.

"You got a crush on anyone here?"

"…Uh, I like girls…"

"I'm _talking_ about the girls, Brick." The boys started quietly laughing, but Brick just looked embarrassed. "Right," he started. "I don't need to have a crush. They're pointless." With that, Brick shut his eyes and continued (to try) sleeping.

Dave was honestly expecting a similar answer, but Brick's candor caught him off guard. In fact, everyone went silent for a second time.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Dave:** "I actually really wanted to tell the guys about Sky, but it just didn't seem like a good time to, at least not after Brick had his turn. On the bright side, none of the other guys said her name, so that means I have a chance with her! (he looks around, and points at the flypaper in the corner of the outhouse) To those of you watching at home, this doesn't do squat."

* * *

 **(Waneyihtam Maskwak Cabin - Girls Side)**

Dawn and Ella shared a bunk, and so did Dakota and Anne Maria, leaving Scarlett all by herself. Being the introvert she was, Scarlett pulled out a novel with a blank cover and began reading.

"Girl, what are you doing?" Anne Maria asked the nerd as she applied lipstick. "You're on a TV show! Is this really the best time to be reading?"

Scarlett glanced up from her book to shoot Anne Maria a hateful stare, only to return to reading.

"O-Oh," Anne Maria said with a disappointed tone. She put away her lipstick and popped her lips loud enough for everyone to hear, then turned back towards Scarlett. "You're not still mad at me for saying whatever I said about your hair?"

The nerd licked her thumb and turned a page. "Not anymore."

"Well, that's good, I guess. So let's hear it about that book."

Scarlett adjusted herself out of the shade so she could see her book. Not a response came from her lips.

"This chick serious?" Anne Maria asked Dakota, who dismissed her with a "meh."

Ella had hung her legs off of the side of her bed, humming a light tune to herself. Dawn's legs were crossed and her eyes were closed, listening to Ella's music.

Filing her nails, Dakota looked at all of her fellow female teammates (she didn't have to look at Anne Maria, smelling her hairspray told the story) and created opinions of them in her head.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Dakota:** "This is the worst! Without the paparazzi, I just feel so out of place! And all my teammates are just weird! There's the flower child, the antisocial nerd, the animal magnet, and the Jersey Shore reject! (she groans and leans her head back) …I guess my only option now is to try to make friends with them. If I want to get far in this game, I'm gonna need some allies. Of course, I'm going to need to fix all of their looks when I get the chance; otherwise I can't be seen with them."

* * *

Dakota chose to talk to Dawn first. "Um, hi?"

"Greetings," she said without opening her eyes. Dakota was a little creeped out by this, but continued, "Are you meditating or something?"

"Yes," Dawn purred. "Ella's beautiful music sets the perfect mood, does it not?"

"Sure…"

Dawn got out of her meditating pose and leaned in towards Dakota. "Your aura suggests many forced emotions. Dakota, if you want to talk, or you just need a friend, I'm available anytime."

Scarlett dropped her book on the floor of the cabin which resulted in a singsongy scream from Ella. "An aura reader… fascinating," she whispered to herself.

"So, does that make us friends?" Dakota asked Dawn, holding her hands in excitement.

"I-I'm sure we were friends to begin with, but I suppose if you want us to be official friends…"

"Awesome! Thanks, Dawn!" Dakota said as she hugged Dawn. The moonchild silently giggled to herself when Dakota went back to her bunk bed.

Scarlett wiped the dust off her book. She caught onto Dakota's act of finding allies, and decided that when their team lost, her vote would be for either Dakota or Dawn. If she intended to win, Scarlett had made it her priority to break all alliances.

Ella had continued humming, but this didn't last very long, as something had caught her eye. "Oh, my!" she exclaimed as she hopped down from her bed. A blue mockingbird was perched outside the cabin's window, chirping away.

"Whoa, whoa," Anne Maria interfered. "You aren't gonna let that thing in here, are you?"

Ella was smiling sweetly at the bird through the glass, and replied, "I don't see why not. It's a sin to shun a mockingbird, after all."

Scarlett rolled her eyes at Ella's reference.

"Besides, making music for us is the only thing mockingbirds ever do," Ella stated.

"Kinda like you," Anne Maria jeered. Ella ignored her and turned back to the birds.

"And don't worry," Ella assured the Jersey girl. "Birds usually never act up when I'm around." With a fluttery giggle, she opened the window and let the blue mockingbird fly inside the cabin.

Dawn watched in awe as the mockingbird flew straight to Ella's finger. She rewarded the bird with a rub on the head with her finger. "I've never seen this kind of mockingbird before…" Dawn murmured. "Hello, blessed little one."

The mockingbird chirped back to her, making Dawn smile.

Dakota looked like she was watching a horror movie. "Are you all animal trainers or something? You're creeping me the heck out!"

Ella put her hand on her heart and began singing, allowing the mockingbird to harmonize with her. "Birds of a feather can fly wherever, as long as they are flying together! A blossoming friendship like a rose in warm weather, and may us friends leave each other never!"

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Scarlett:** "Ella's kind personality will definitely bring Team Maskwak closer together, thus resulting in more alliances. I can't have this… therefore Ella must be my first target; Dakota or Dawn being a close second. Anne Maria is the only wild card… she could be a possible ally for me, but I doubt there's a worthy brain under all that makeup."

* * *

 **(Waneyihtam Maskwak Cabin - Boys Side)**

Cameron and Shawn walked into their side of the cabin, equally frightened. Sam stuffed his GameGuy in his pocket and noticed the two boys' expressions. "What's the matter? It's just a cabin."

Cameron gulped and neared one of the bunk beds. "This wood doesn't look safe… it could collapse on top of me at any moment! No way, I can't sleep on this thing!"

Topher teased his hair with a comb, and remarked, "You don't have to sleep on the bottom, you know."

"Oh man, I wish I had my bubble here with me…"

Shawn was still shaking, and his eyebrows were raised so high that they were almost overlapped by his toque.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Shawn:** "I'm almost certain that Max is a zombie! But how am I supposed to protect myself without all of my supplies?! That's it. I have a plan to take my stuff back from Chef, when everyone's asleep!"

* * *

Max touched a mattress with one finger, and jumped back in pain. "OUCH! This abomination of a bed is unworthy of evil such as myself!"

Normally, Shawn would be unamused at how weak Max is, but he let out a sigh of relief instead.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Shawn:** "If Max can feel pain, then that means that he _isn't_ a zombie. Phew! Okay, I'll admit… this whole fear of zombies can get out of control at times. But it's a completely healthy fear! Luck favors the prepared!"

* * *

B approached the bunk bed Max was at, and patted a mattress several times, like he was listening for an echo. "Eh? What are you doing?" Max asked the inventor, who returned a smirk.

Max followed B to his luggage as he pulled out a pencil and notebook paper. He began drawing lines and boxes, occasionally looking back at the bunk bed.

This had caught the attention of everyone else, and they surrounded B to see what he was doing; Topher had even dropped his comb in the process. Not that they annoyed him; he just needed to focus.

"It looks like he's drawing the bunk bed," Cameron observed. B had finished drawing the bed, and held it up for everyone to see. "Nice!" the bubble boy praised.

"Not to be mean, but what was the point of drawing one of our bunk beds?" Topher pondered.

It wasn't until B reached inside his jacket and pulled a tape measure out of one of his pockets did his teammates understand what he was doing.

"Sweet," Sam exclaimed. "He's making blueprints for a bunk bed!"

As B went over to a bunk bed to measure its dimensions, Max followed him and wiggled one of its wobbly wooden legs. "Hmph," he said to himself. When the others looked at him with blank stares, Max continued, "Although I have to admit that new beds are much needed. How generous of you, Dee."

"It's B," Cameron corrected. "And it wouldn't hurt to say 'thank you' once in a while."

Max groaned, but approached B to thank him. B was in the middle of measuring the length of the beds when Max tapped him on the elbow (or in other words, the highest Max could reach). B turned and retracted his tape measure, until…

"Th-Thank yo-AGH!"

…the hook was pulled right into the back on Max's head, knocking him over on his face. B winced at his fall and helped him up. He seemed dizzy, and looked at B with starry eyes.

"Mama," he stuttered. "Is that you? I see stars… am I an astronaut?"

Shawn caught Max before he lost his balance, and carried him over his shoulders. "I'm gonna take this clown to the infirmary." Before Shawn left the cabin, Sam stopped him and asked, "Do you really think he should be taken to the infirmary for that?"

"Wouldn't you?" was Shawn's simple and clear response, to which Sam nodded. "He's literally the human version of the Pillsbury Doughboy!" Topher, Sam, and Cameron sent Shawn off with a friendly laugh; B merely smirked and continued to measure the bed.

Cameron's attention was back on the blueprints, and he piped up, "Hey, I can help with this! I'm really good at ratios and measurements!" B gave him a smile of acceptance, and Cameron celebrated with an "alright!"

"I can help, too," Sam stated. "Mapping is second-nature to gamers like me, and I play a lot of Chambers and Creatures!" B shot him a thumbs-up.

"But what do I do?" Topher asked, his voice slightly irritated from the lack of attention he's gotten. The inventor shrugged at him. "Do you want me to help you measure?" He held up a hand to Topher, who sighed and walked to his bunk bed.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Topher:** "It doesn't make sense! It's like the other teammates are ignoring me or something. Even the quiet dude's in with their little friend circle, but what about me? If I stay out of this friend group for too long, my teammates might try to vote me off for not being an ally! Or… nah! There's no way Chris would let me be the first boot! It's obvious I'm his favorite." (he points to himself and makes a chk-chk noise)

* * *

"I-I'll just…" the host wannabe stammered. "I'll just practice!"

"Practice what?" Cameron asked, not interested in the slightest.

"Practice talking to Chris, of course!" Topher walked up to the wall of the cabin that faced the front door. On that wall was Chris's headshot in a picture frame; despite its small size, it was easily noticeable.

Topher cleared his throat before talking to the picture. "Ahem… Hey hey, Chris! How's it goin, good, that's awesome! Awesome sauce, to the max! Say, is that a new haircut? Looking fresh, my man, you're making it work!"

The wannabe knew how he sounded; his eye even winced as he finished complimenting "Chris."

"Hey, careful there, or else you'll make the picture hang itself," Sam jokingly warned. Cameron started laughing, and Sam joined in.

Topher hung his head in defeat. He recovered quickly, and stood up straight and stiff like Brick would at attention. "I'll be back," he told the picture, and returned to his bed.

* * *

A loud air horn was heard over the intercoms set up by the cabins, causing all the contestants to squint their eyes and cover their ears. Ella's mockingbird even flew right into the window to escape, breaking the glass.

"Campers, your thirty minutes are up!" Chris's voice echoed throughout the campgrounds, his voice as enthusiastic as ever.

"Behind your cabins is a trail leading into the woods. Continue on that trail, and you'll end up at one of Pahkitew Island's many cliffs. There, the first challenge of Total Drama Revenge will begin!"

"Oh, and be sure to bring your swimsuits."

* * *

~xxx~

~xxx~

~xxx~

 _Well, there you have it! The first true chapter of Total Drama Revenge: Pahkitew Island! I hope I continue to pique your interest as the story progresses._

 _As for future chapters, I don't know if I'll split each challenge into two chapters or not. We'll just have to wait and see…_

 _Let me know of any grammatical errors or problems you have with my writing in reviews or PMs. But nothing too harsh; I like to think that I'm a human with a heart and feelings._

 _Guess that wraps up this chapter. Hope you enjoyed reading, and I'll see you all next time!_


	3. Chapter 2: Living on the Edge

**Disclaimer: I do not own Total Drama, its characters, or anything else related to the series.**

 **Warning: This chapter of Total Drama Revenge: Pahkitew Island contains scenes of extreme stunts performed by fictional teenagers. Do not try any of what you read here at home. Seriously, you could get really messed up. Mild cursing and blood.**

* * *

~Author's Note~

 _Let me just say that I'm glad to finally post this chapter. I'm relieved that I was able to write a longer chapter than "Contestants Arrive" in less than a month. I found it much easier to schedule times for writing, and it gave me a more accurate guess of how much of the chapter I've completed, and when it should be finished. Scheduling also helps me write faster, which is always a plus, but I'll make sure not to write too fast. Like the saying goes, slow and steady wins the race. My original plan was to publish this chapter tomorrow, but I was feeling creative and finished it up last night._

 _Now that I have that out of the way, I should go ahead and say this. I recently started marching band camp for my school, and that takes up a good majority of my weekdays; each day of camp ranges from how long a regular school day takes to a full twelve hours. I will attempt to update this story when I can, but just know that I will be quite busy. And, of course, I'm returning back to school for another hellish year (that's exaggerated, it's actually not that bad), so I'm sure that will get in the way of my writing, too._

 _Also, thank you all again for your support. If it hadn't been for you guys, I wouldn't be right here, writing this story for you._

 _That said, here's the "miscellaneous" trivia. I don't plan on writing this much for the author's note every time, because I feel like you'd be reading variations of the same thing repeatedly. I'll try to keep it short and simple unless there is something that I absolutely need to let you guys know._

 _Last chapter, or episode (if you just want that feeling of watching an actual episode of Total Drama), I mentioned whether or not I was going to split each challenge into two chapters (Chapisodes? Epters?). I decided to keep each challenge as one full chapter. But only for this chapter, just so I could see what a full episode would look like in one chapter. Yes, I know that this chapter is very long, and as I'm typing this, the word count is well over 25K. As such, that means that this episode contains an elimination. Find out for yourself if you want to, but let me warn you about one thing. Remember the poll on my profile? It's been updated for this chapter, which means that the eliminated individual is not an option on the poll. I will spoiler tag the poll, but for your own safety, you may want to read the chapter before voting again. Thank you._

* * *

~Replying to Reviews~

 **AnonBrowser** \- Congrats, you correctly guessed the first challenge of TDR:PI! Have a digital cookie! I'd just like to apologize for mixing up the teams in the first chapter, but not to worry; I've already fixed them. If you're confused, remember that Amy is on Team Kinosewak, and Anne Maria is on Team Maskwak. Thanks for pointing out that typo; I guess I just wasn't thinking. And yes, I also feel like I exaggerated a couple of the characters after reading your review. Especially Dave, which is why I went back and fixed his lines so that he didn't seem as girl-crazy. I didn't feel like I understood his character at the time, but I have a more decent understanding of him. What you pointed out for Zoey, Lightning, and Dakota are minor inconsistencies, but I don't feel like they need to be changed. None of them indicate any future events, crushes, relationships, or anything like that. As for Scott… I wrote that for a reason. Hehehe… but thank you again for your review, and your comment did in fact help me out a lot.

 **Patrick the Fan** \- First off, your profile picture is killer. Imagine Dragons for life! I'm glad that my story is giving hope for a true new Total Drama season.

 **Guest** \- Wow, you must really want Ella pairing, don't you? There's no need for spamming. However, there will be mild Ella pairing in this story. I don't think this gives too much away, but she will form a crush on "Prince David." Ella will also become good friends with Dawn this season, so I guess you can interpret that as a yuri ship, even though that's not what I'm making it out to be.

 **To Everyone Else** \- I really appreciate all of your feedback, praise and criticism. Every review, follow, and favorite has a unique and beautiful person behind it, who is willing to support me and my story. I'm very thankful for all of you, and I hope you enjoy the first challenge of Total Drama Revenge.

* * *

Now that all that's out of the way, let's begin the first challenge!

~xxx~

~xxx~

~xxx~

It was like they were standing in front of the physical embodiment of death itself.

The diverse cast of teenagers had grouped at the top of one of Pahkitew Island's many cliffs. Wispy white clouds that were present that morning had been replaced by those of a somber grey color. One needed to use their arms to block the sharp moaning winds from pecking their eyes.

Most notably, they were cold. Not from the wind, nor from the fact that they were all wearing swimsuits. They were cold from fear. Even the bravest of the contestants could do no more than inch closer and closer to the edge of the cliff, just so they could look down and see what was at the bottom.

Jasmine gulped. "Chris doesn't expect us to jump off, does he?"

The host used a rusty jetpack to fly himself up to where the campers were, and lifted the face shield of the helmet he was wearing. "Yes, yes I do!" he shouted over the roars of the jetpack's rockets.

The campers groaned and chattered amongst each other. "Relax," Chris assured. "Jumping is not mandatory for this challenge. Before I get to explaining, I need two strong competitors from each team."

Lightning beamed proudly, and looked like he was about to raise his hand, but Jo held his arm down. She turned to Chris, and beat a fist on her heart. "I'll volunteer for my team."

The football player shot her a competitive glare. "Why do _you_ get to volunteer? It's Lightning's time to strike!" He went into a bolt pose for emphasis.

"Lightning? Ha! More like Trite-ning!"

"What? Trite-ning?! Lightning's no fish!"

The two continued to argue with each other, until Jasmine politely raised her hand. "You know what, I'll volunteer. What the heck?"

"Excellent," Chris said, as Jasmine walked to the edge of the cliff and turned around to face the group. "Jasmine will be our volunteer for Team Kinosewak. Now we just need a volunteer for Team Maskwak."

Shawn looked around at his teammates. He noticed people like Anne Maria (who only cared about themselves), Sam (who meant well, but was easily distracted), and Scarlett (who seemed to care about the challenge, but lacked physical strength). And then there was Max, who was just plain uncooperative.

But Shawn thought that B was different. He had brains, and looked like he had some strength. Despite this, the zombie survivalist decided to step up and save B the trouble. "I've got Team Maskwak."

Ella gasped in excitement. "Ah, how kind of you! Thank you, Shawn! In honor of your kindness, I shall reward you with a song." She cleared her voice to begin, but Chris interrupted her.

"This is Total Drama Revenge, Ella," he told her sternly. " _Not_ Total Drama World Tour. Songs are not required!" This made Ella cover her mouth in surprise.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Ella:** "I was a huuuge fan of Total Drama World Tour! I memorized all the songs and performed them at the local mall so I could share my voice with the world! Even though the nice security man only let me share for two or three minutes… but just because we don't have to sing, that doesn't mean that we can't sing!"

* * *

As Shawn walked up to Jasmine, she turned towards Chris. "So, what will the two of us be doing?"

"Allow me to explain," Chris began, steering the jetpack towards the cliff so he could stand. "This challenge is a nod to Total Drama's first-ever challenge: the cliff dive!" Some campers nodded as they were familiar with the show, but others stayed as frozen and afraid as ever, knowing that they'll have to jump.

"One person from each team will jump off this 500-foot tall cliff at the same time." Chris pointed at the buoys below him forming a large semicircle on the side of Pahkitew Island. "Be sure to land inside the target area, because twenty keys have been spread out on the lake bed. Once you grab a key, swim your way back to shore, where you will find Shawn and Jasmine."

Shawn asked the host, "So that means we aren't jumping?" He high-fived Jasmine and threw a fist in the air, as they both shouted, "Alright!"

Chris smiled and continued explaining. "When a teammate arrives on shore with a key, either Shawn or Jasmine will chauffeur them to the main lodge using baby carriages from Season 3's 'Race through Central Park!' There, you will use your key to try to unlock the main lodge's front door."

"What happens if our key doesn't fit?" Zoey asked Chris, her voice still a bit shaky from worrying about the 500-foot drop.

"If you happen to pick up a dud, you'll just be pushed back to the shore, where you will wait on your fellow contestants. The team who grabs the correct key and unlocks the main lodge door will win the challenge, and a special prize at the end!"

The campers clapped and cheered, but their excitement _still_ didn't change the fact that they were scared to jump.

Chris stuck a hand behind his back and reached for a flip switch on his jetpack. It sputtered out smoke, but the host eventually ended up floating in midair.

Shawn and Jasmine yelped as Chris grabbed the back of Shawn's tank shirt and Jasmine's wetsuit, and lifted them off the ground. Using his jetpack, he carried them down to the bottom of the cliff, shouting to the campers, "And remember, watch out for…!"

"HEY!" Topher called out to Chris, grabbing the edge of the cliff for support. "What did you say?!" But he received no answer.

Dave was looking straight down at the water below him. There was a ripple, then two… "O-Oh… oh no…!"

Three shark fins were visible for the campers to see, even from the top of the cliff. Dave tripped backwards over his feet and fell on his rear. "SH-SHARKS!" he screamed.

This made every camper back up more and more, so that the shark fins were out of their sight. Dakota was panting heavy enough that her voice strained. "I'm not doing this! I demand a new reality show!"

Sky touched Dave's shoulder and helped him up with her other hand. "Hey, careful!" she warned. "Are you okay?"

"I'm good… thanks," he replied. His fear had made him completely forget about his feelings for Sky; he just let her walk him away from the edge of the cliff.

Jasmine watched all of this from the bottom of the cliff. She touched her chin as she thought, with a worried look on her face. "Chris, I think maybe I should be one to jump-"

"Sorry, no can do!" the host annoyingly teased. "You already volunteered, Jasmine. Choices are final." The Australian girl sighed, anxiously thinking about what would happen once a camper hit the shark-infested waters.

Chris discarded his jetpack onto the trash-speckled sand, and pointed to Chef, who was holding an air horn.

"Let the first challenge of Total Drama Revenge: Pahkitew Island… begin!" Chris announced with his arms up. He plugged his ears as Chef blew the air horn.

Lightning cracked his knuckles and stepped up to the cliff's edge. "Sharks ain't got nothing on me! I've got this one in the bag."

Jo pushed him out of the way. "Uh-huh? Whatever happened to 'ladies first'?" she scolded, but this only made Lightning howl with laughter.

"Ladies first? Good one," he complimented, completely oblivious to the fact that Jo was a girl. He clutched his thighs as Jo's fingers stiffened and her teeth clenched.

"I'm not a..." she controlled her anger by stomping the ground and returning back to the group. "Just go."

Lightning got into sprinting position. He ran at full speed towards the cliff's edge before tripping over a rock, and falling into the water.

"Sha-AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Scarlett turned to her team. "We need to choose a diver, and fast!"

B raised his hand, and neared the edge. A worried look appeared on his face as he looked down at a falling, screaming Lightning. He shyly turned around towards Team Maskwak.

"You can do it, B," Dawn cheered.

"You've got this," Sam encouraged. "You're a beast!"

"Come on!" Dakota said happily enough that it was completely out of character. It turns out that Dakota was just talking to a photographer on her pink cell phone.

In spite of this, B took this as a compliment. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and jumped off of the cliff. Even though he didn't scream, B fell faster and faster, and made a splash large enough to rival Owen's splash from the previous cliff dive challenge.

The water from the splash seemed to slap the sand, as well as Shawn and Jasmine. They both fell backwards, screaming out of shock. The two baby carriages (red for Shawn and green for Jasmine) had been knocked over by B's wave, and Shawn hopped off the ground to set them both back up, choking on the water as he did.

Jasmine however was still sitting on the sand, her head thrown back in laughter. "What's so funny about that?" Shawn asked between chokes.

"You have to push B on the baby carriage!" she snickered.

"Wha-?" Shawn eyes almost popped out of their sockets as Jasmine snorted in her hand. After picking up both carriages, he wiped the sand grains off his shirt, and stuttered for a comeback. "W-Well, good luck not getting annoyed by Lightning!"

"Oh, well, you got me there, mate," Jasmine laughed, lightly punching the zombie survivalist in the arm.

The campers on the cliff looked down at the water, unsure of where their teammates were. "Does anyone see them?" Samey asked worryingly.

"Relax, Samey," Amy scoffed. "The sharks must have already eaten them alive."

Mike shook at the thought of Lightning or B being eaten alive right before his eyes. "Let's not talk about that…"

Dawn gasped and pointed to the water. "I see someone down there!"

She was right. A dark-skinned arm was poking out of the water, with a rusty golden key in hand. Lightning resurfaced his head and flashed a grin towards his teammates. Team Kinosewak celebrated for the football player.

"The shore, idiot! Swim to the shore!" Jo called out to the Lightning. Lightning spun around to face Jasmine, but a shark fin had popped out of the water right in front of the boy. He screamed and lost the grip on his key, which was now sinking down to the bottom of the lake. He managed to grab the key before it went out of his reach, but now he had to deal with the approaching shark. He turned around to swim away, but after he swam far enough, the shark fin rose out of the water a little more to reveal not a real shark, but B with a fake fin.

"Yeah!" Cameron cheered. "Way to go-"

Scarlett slapped a hand over the bubble boy's mouth. "Be quiet, or else Lightning will notice."

Cameron hit his forehead with frustration. "Sorry, Scarlett. Me and my big mouth…"

The silent inventor reached the point of the lake where he could walk to the shore. Although the two had already met, Shawn looked a bit intimidated when B strode up to him and the stroller.

"S-So, um… hop on!" Shawn said, trying to sound enthusiastic. Jasmine giggled a little bit.

B looked down at the small red baby carriage in front of him, gulping. He turned away from it, grabbed the sides of the stroller, and slowly…

*crack*

…slowly…

*crack crack*

…slowly…

*rrrrrrr*

…sat down in it. The stroller seemed to look a couple inches shorter than before, but Shawn shrugged it off.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **B:** (he looks at the camera, then rubs the back of his head with an embarrassed grin.)

* * *

"Alright," a determined Shawn announced. "Let's do this thing!" He spat on both hands, rubbed them together, and gripped the stroller handle hard enough to make his hands sore.

Jasmine gasped and covered her mouth with her palm as she watched Shawn push the stroller faster than one would imagine. Shawn didn't push the stroller off the narrow trail once, and in an instant, the two disappeared into the thick woods.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Jasmine:** "Wow… just wow. I never expected that much strength from someone with such a lanky figure. (she props her leg on the other) I can't really say much else about that without sounding offensive towards B. And I know I shouldn't be saying this about someone on the other team, but… great effort, Shawn!"

* * *

The Australian leaned over, trying to look for Shawn and B past the thick mossy trees that the path cut into. Without luck, she turned back around to wait for Lightning.

Conversations with Lightning ran through the girl's mind, as she desperately tried to think of a nice way to get him to be quiet if he became too annoying.

"Hey, giant girl!"

Jasmine peered down at Lightning, although she had trouble, what with Lightning shoving a key in her face. "Hurry up," she told him. "B and Shawn have already left!"

"Sure thing! Sha-Lightning!" He grabbed the stroller's handle, and attempted to do a front flip into the seat.

The key word being, "attempted."

Lightning lost his balance on the stroller, and fell down immediately, getting a face full of sand. Jasmine helped him up as he continued to spit out sandy saliva.

Still woozy, Lightning held up a finger and suggested, "Let me try that again."

"Oh no, you don't!" Jasmine interrupted. She picked Lightning up by the waist with a "hup," and set him down in the stroller. "In you go…"

"And there goes Jasmine and Trite-ning!" Chris announced with a megaphone. He was sitting by the shore on a lawn chair, set up far enough from the water to avoid B's splash. "Team Maskwak takes the lead!"

Mike watched Jasmine and Lightning follow the trail into the woods, until they were out of sight. He sat on the grass and sighed.

Zoey seemed to be the only one to notice him. "Hey, is everything alright?"

"Yeah," Mike said without heart. "Everything's great."

"If you're scared about jumping, it's okay. I'm scared too."

"N-No, it's not that," Mike stammered. "It's just… don't worry about it. It's nothing."

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Mike:** "I felt so bad, lying to Zoey's face like that! I know she means well, but I can't let her know about my, um… how should I put this? A condition? I really want to tell her, but I just can't! What will she say?"

 **Zoey:** "Poor Mike… I wonder what's up with him. But as much as I want to ask him about it, I shouldn't intrude. I'll just let him come to me when he's ready! (she stares at the camera and realizes what she said) No, no, not like that! I don't want him to… I mean, it's only to help him feel better! (she sighs and rests her head on her hand) Ugh… I'm such a klutz…"

* * *

Brick and Jo were thumb-wrestling to see who would jump next for Team Kinosewak. Jo kept a victorious smirk on her face as she played, while Brick grunted in frustration. "Ha!" Jo exclaimed as she pinned the cadet's thumb down.

"Yeowch!" he whined. He quickly accepted defeat and saluted Jo, still shaking his right hand. "I've never met a girl stronger than me before. Not even my mom!"

Scarlett eyed the other team and then turned to hers. "Is anybody here a good swimmer?"

"Ooh, me, me!" Max piped up, eagerly raising his hand. "I won a trophy for my swimming team when I was six!"

"It's amazing how much self-esteem a participation trophy can give you," Dawn commented.

Max held up his finger to say something back to Dawn. "I-Impossible! How did you know that?"

"I see people's auras. And yours smells like baby powder…"

Anne Maria nudged Dawn with her elbow. "Bet you didn't need to be an aura reader to get that participation trophy part right!" Dawn laughed softly and started gradual laughter among Team Maskwak. Max turned around and crossed his arms. Scarlett approached him to console.

"We all have to go at some point. Besides, you can scare the sharks away with your evil."

Max gasped and looked at Scarlett as if he had thought of that himself. "That's brilliant! Scarlett, I am truly a genius for having you around!"

She gave him a blank stare and adjusted her glasses.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Scarlett:** "You may be asking what my plan is here. Call me insane, but I see potential in Max. Forget Anne Maria. Max isn't anything special, but if I butter him up a little bit by stroking his ego, he will find more motivation to be the last camper standing. Although I see something in Max, he doesn't have what it takes to win the season. He's just a stepladder that I can use to get to the million. (she turns to the camera and waves sweetly) No hard feelings, Max, but you're an idiot."

* * *

Shawn was nearing the main lodge, but B's weight was beginning to slow him down. He started breathing violently for energy while wiping puddles of sweat off his forehead, as if they were the cause of him slowing down.

B looked back to see Jasmine and Lightning hot on their trail. After thinking about what he could do to make the stroller go faster, he caught Shawn's attention and pointed to a tree with low branches.

"Huh? You want me to run you into a tree?"

The inventor began to reach for the tree's branches, which sent Shawn the message. "Got it! Smart thinking, B!"

Jasmine eyed Shawn as he altered his direction towards the low-branched tree. B waited for the right moment, and grabbed one of its branches. It broke off easily, and B began to push it against the ground, making the stroller roll faster.

"Okay, we're here," Shawn said to B. He hopped off and the stroller creaked once more. As Jasmine stopped her stroller, B went up to the front door and jiggled his key in the lock.

"No good, huh?" Shawn asked. "Let's hurry back!"

B picked up the branch off the ground, sat back down in the stroller (which was still somehow in one piece), and moved it together with Shawn.

Lightning laughed and pointed at B. "You're going down, Brainiac!"

Shawn shuddered at this, and tried to shake off his fear.

Jasmine watched as Lightning tried to unlock the door with his key. She took a few steps back when he threw his key on the porch, and kicked a piece of wood loose on the railing. "This is a load of bull!"

"Hey," Jasmine assertively called out. "That kind of attitude is uncalled for!"

"You don't understand! Lightning's always supposed to carry his team to victory!"

Jasmine half-sighed half-groaned. "It's a luck-based challenge! Unless you want to win, stop throwing a temper tantrum and let's get back to the shore!"

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Lightning:** "Man, that Jasmine! I don't know how it works down in Antarctica, but here in Canada, good luck is for those who earn it! And trust me, I've earned it, broke its ankles, and sent it to the hospital! My point is this challenge was rigged, one hundred percent!"

* * *

"Hey, here comes Shawn and B!" Sam shouted. B crossed his legs comfortably and waved to Team Maskwak. He dropped the branch somewhere in the woods so that Chris wouldn't see it and penalize them.

Scarlett patted Max on the back. "Jump! We're still in the lead!"

Max held out his arms and slowly bounced his legs. "Um," Scarlett began, but she was so weirded out by Max that that was all she could say.

"I'm warming up," Max replied.

Ella turned around and gasped. "Warm up faster, because I see Jasmine and Lightning!"

The short teen stood up normally and scoffed at Ella as Team Kinosewak chattered amongst themselves. "Whatever."

Max ran up to the cliff's edge pretending to look athletic, but Scarlett couldn't help but snicker at how his entire body seemed to jiggle with every step.

Jo was in a runner's starting position, and went into a full sprint. She was running about three times faster than Max.

"Time…" Max chanted as he ran. "To…"

"Out of my way!" Jo interjected, pushing Max to the side. The jockette dove off the cliff and let out a bold shriek in an attempt to scare the sharks off. Max lost his balance and fell off the ledge, backflipping on the way down.

"EVIIILLLLL!"

Then Max noticed what was happening to him.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

Jo landed in the water with a perfect dive, and Max belly-flopped.

A shark crept up to a floating face-down Max and presented his teeth. Max looked up and gasped to himself, while wiggling his legs to keep afloat.

"Max!" Scarlett yelled. "Scare them off!"

He swam closer to the shark with a cat-like grin, trying his hardest to scare the animal. His eyes were open so wide that they started to vibrate. He held up his hands and curled his fingers in different angles.

The shark didn't move a muscle as Max neared closer and closer. They were mere inches away from each other.

"Goodness," Ella whimpered, turning around and covering her eyes. "I can't watch!"

Max inhaled, prepared and completely enthusiastic to give the shark a taste of his evil.

"…Boo."

The shark lunged forward and chomped at Max. He yelped, "DAH!" and dropped in the water.

Jo took his place and presented the campers on the cliff with a large-headed key, and she was praised with applause. Max surfaced and doggy-paddled to stay afloat, but Jo noticed that he was holding a small key.

Then she had an idea. "I don't think so!" she shouted at Max. She held up her key, angled it towards the sun, letting a ray of light reflect right into Max's face.

"OWW!" he whined, falling backwards. Jo laughed triumphantly as she swam to shore. "Sucker," she jeered.

Jasmine gestured Jo to run faster as she set foot on the sand.

"Max! Hurry up!" Shawn cried.

Jo, who had already hopped into Jasmine's carriage, celebrated with a "Yes!" and threw her fists in the air. Jasmine looked at Shawn with a playful grin and began pushing Jo on the forest path.

"Sorry mate," she apologized.

The sounds of Jasmine's quick footsteps were soon drowned out by extravagant splashing and screaming.

Two sharks chased Max towards the shore, where he flopped on the sand face-first.

"We don't have time for this!" Shawn scolded, grabbing Max's fat arm and pulling him up. "Get in the carriage, and quick!"

"Nay," Max retorted with his hand up. "Evil never takes orders from the likes of you!"

Anne Maria leaned over and yelled down at the two. "Hey, you take orders from the likes of me, right? Get in the (censored) stroller and mush!" She stuck her hand in her poof and pulled out a spray can, raising it high to show Max that she wasn't playing games.

"Aiyee!" Max squealed. "Y-Yes ma'am!"

"Well," Shawn spoke to herself as he watched Max's little legs hurry over to the stroller. "At least he's lightweight…"

Max hopped in the carriage and began patting the seat. "How soft. I've become so used to pushing strollers, that I never realized how comfortable they are!"

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Max:** "Yes, I'm a babysitter. But don't think for a second that that makes me any less evil! I take pride in my work. (he begins to tap his fingers together) In fact, when I become old enough to raise a child, I intend to raise him as my evil apprentice, and together we will conquer all in our way! If he doesn't know how, I'll create an informational pop-up book for him. And, I can take inspiration from those idiotic twin cheerleaders and name him 'Smax!'"

* * *

Shawn tried to ignore the boy and took Max down the trail into the woods.

Chris leaned over to grab his megaphone and continued to commentate. "Thanks to Jo's quick thinking, Team Kinosewak is now in the lead!"

Instead of cheering, Team Kinosewak discussed who should jump next. Sky seemed to have taken the leadership role in the process.

"Okay team, let's talk. Who should jump next?"

Brick raised his hand to volunteer. "I'll jump next. With my athletic abilities, I should be able to keep our team in the lead." He flexed his muscles to prove his point, although not to show off like Lightning would.

"That's very kind of you, Brick, but I think we need to save some athletic people for later." She patted Brick's arms and gently pushed them down to his sides.

"Ugh, wait," Amy interrupted. "Who died and made you the leader?"

She turned around at the rude cheerleader and began making hand gestures to get a point across. "I'm doing this for all of us. The more challenges we lose, the more teammates we lose. The more teammates we lose, the less of a team we have. And we need a strong team if we all want to make it to the merge. Make sense?"

Dave nodded with an endearing smile. "Definitely. You're a really good leader, Sky!"

"Thanks, Dave. You too."

"What?"

"Oh, uh… sorry. Force of habit."

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Sky:** "Dave really seems to take a liking to me for some reason. (she quietly giggles and continues) I'm actually starting to wonder if he has a crush on me or something. But that's not why I'm here. I'm not here to date, I'm here to win!"

* * *

Scott, who had been silent ever since the challenge began, began quietly laughing at the athlete's straightforward speech after thinking it over for a while.

Sky approached him with her fists on her hips. "What exactly is so funny?"

"Nothing."

"Hey, you've been quiet for a while now," Mike told the ginger teen. "What's up with you?"

"Nothing," Scott reiterated. "Only waiting for the right time to jump."

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Scott:** (he is holding a small log, scraping wood bark off of it with a small knife) "Yeah, I lied. I'm not waiting; I'm observing. Observing who needs to stay, and who needs to go. See, I have some strategies in my head; enough to make a whole collection, in fact. My personal favorite… throw challenges and pin the blame for the loss on stronger teammates. It may not help my team, but it'll help me get to the finale with less competition! So yeah. I'll stay as quiet as I need to from now on. (he leans drops the log and leans in towards the camera, whispering) Dear Total Drama, this game is mine. Not so sincerely, Scott. (he stabs his knife on the wall)

* * *

Samey pulled on her bikini strap. It was a creamy white color, but the bikini was a size small, so her arms and legs took on a faded pink color. She slightly raised her tingly hand and spoke up, "I could jump, but… I can't feel my legs anymore!"

Zoey gasped and looked at Samey's bikini. "Size small, huh?" Samey returned a weak nod. "Hey, it's okay. I brought some extras, and I think we could wear the same size!" The redhead took Samey's hand and led her down the mountain. "What color do you like? I have blue, white, and lavender."

"I-I really like blue…"

Amy watched Zoey and her sister shrink as they walked down the mountain. "Tch," she scorned.

"Hey, Amy," Scott asked. "What's the deal with your sister's bikini?"

"What was wrong with it?" she said, pretending to be oblivious.

"Looked a little small." He neared Amy and put an arm on her shoulder. "But I didn't expect someone as high and mighty as you to notice something that small."

"Oh?" she replied. She took a step to the side, but a smile had somehow crept on her face.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Scott:** "Remember that 'collection' of strategies I have? Stubborn ones like Amy need to be knocked down by using a different approach. So I'll just make her think that I have a crush on her. When I told the guys on my team that I had the hots for Amy… nobody suspected that it was all fake! Hehehe… I know this show, and I know what happens when you get involved in romance. You lose focus of the game. So, thank you Dave, for bringing up that conversation. You just set my plan in motion."

 **Amy:** "He's the human equivalent of a muddy hog! I swear, everything he touches turns the color of dirt! The boy's disgusting, and he obviously wants to win me over. The only redeeming quality of his is that he favors me over Samey. But why would I want to date _that_?! UGH! (she tenses up and shakes her hands) B-A-R-F!"

* * *

Mike had overheard their conversation. "Hey Amy, I actually wanna know. Did you have something to do with Samey's bikini?"

"I picked it out, of course," Amy shamelessly admitted. Sky's fist clenched when she heard this. "But now that I think about it, I may have accidentally taken it from the hand-me-down pile. Who knows, who cares?"

* * *

Jasmine panted heavily as she looked as she pushed Jo's stroller. She focused on running by looking at the trail, at every speck of dirt as she passed them, at the thin grooves the stroller made, and at every footprint that had set foot on the trail, carving its bumpy shape. Jo noticed her frozen eyes and turned her head around.

"Everything okay? You better not pass out on me!"

The Australian girl wiped her sweaty forehead with her equally sweaty arm; a meaningless action with no changes.

"I'm not going to pass out!" she said between breaths.

"Good. So, let's talk."

"I-Is now… really the best time, Jo?"

"Meh," Jo sounded, turning back to the front. "We may as well. I don't feel like waiting." She didn't let Jasmine say anything to this and continued talking. "You seem like one of the better players on Team Kinosewak."

Focusing on running, listening to Jo's comment, wiping sweat from her face every twenty seconds, pushing the stroller; Jasmine couldn't help but get a headache from all of this.

"Better player? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Athletic, competitive, strong… hell, besides me, you're probably the best competitor on our team."

"I'm… honored." Jasmine said sarcastically. "Why are you telling me this?"

Jo chuckled, only to turn back around to look Jasmine in the eye. "Word of advice. Don't get on my bad side. Mess with Jo, and you gotta go!"

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Jasmine:** "Wonder how long it took her to come up with that rhyme." (she chuckles)

* * *

"Fine," Jasmine agreed, still irritated. "I'll stay out of your way if you agree not to cause our team any trouble."

Jo crossed her legs to get comfortable. It was an illogical thing to do since they were almost at the main lodge, but she wanted to look smug. "I take it you're gonna be the team leader?"

"I'll have to discuss it with the others first, but I believe I would make a great leader."

"Is that so?"

Jasmine decided to ignore her for the rest of the time she was on the stroller. She knew that Jo was just trying to get in her head.

The jockette got off the stroller once Jasmine parked it, jumped over all of the porch's steps, and stuck her key into the door.

"Dang it!" she yelled. "It doesn't fit! Let's go back!" Jo sat herself down in the stroller and got pushed back down the trail.

Jasmine still didn't say anything. She grinned only a little bit when Shawn and Max passed her. The zombie survivalist just nervously waved, his everlasting fear of zombies still invading his thoughts.

"Faster!" Max ordered, ignorant to the fact that they were moving at a decent speed.

"Quieter," Shawn retorted. "I would be much happier if you were quiet."

Max gasped dramatically. "That's not a very nice thing to say."

"Nice isn't the road to survival, buddy," he advised.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Shawn:** "Words to live by. If a zombie started following you, and then you recognize it as your best friend, don't try to be nice and save them or anything! Once you let your guard down, it's game over for you!" (he draws a finger across his neck and makes a choking noise)

* * *

Max fell off of the stroller before Shawn stopped it, but recovered quickly and ran up to the main lodge door. "Drats," he cursed. "My key doesn't-"

"It doesn't fit, I know! Get in the stroller, Captain Obvious!" Max obeyed Shawn's order with disinclination, and Shawn went back on the trail to the beach.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Shawn:** "Let's see… so far I've called him a clown, the Pillsbury Doughboy, Captain Obvious, and (quotes with his fingers) 'buddy,' sarcastically. The more these nicknames pile up, the more I want Max off this island. If we lose, then Max could get voted off; since there's a 50/50 chance of winning, and voting comes down to 'Do they get on your last nerve or not?'"

* * *

Amy was sitting on the ground, facing towards the path down the mountain. Not because she was waiting for Samey, but she just wanted to avoid eye contact with a certain redhead farm boy.

Mike was sitting down too, but made sure to keep some distance between him and Amy. He kept squeezing his arm, taking deep breaths.

"Everything okay, Mike?"

Sky had knelt beside the boy, who sighed as a response. "Does it have something to do with Zoey?"

Mike's eyebrows rose in horror and he sat up. "What gave you that idea?"

"I noticed you talking to her earlier." Sky sat down with Mike and slid close to him. She leaned forward and pulled Mike with her, making sure that nobody else heard them. "If you have a thing for Zoey, that's perfectly fine. Your secret's safe with me. I'm a trustworthy person."

"U-Um…" Mike stammered, trying to tell Sky what was really on his mind. The athlete looked away, embarrassed that she may have just put Mike in an uncomfortable position. "Sorry, I… I can see that you're not ready to talk about it."

"Wait!" Mike whispered, grabbing Sky's arm before she got up to leave. "Please don't let anyone know, but… yeah, I like her a little. I just don't want too many people finding out about it."

Sky brushed the hair on the back of her head, flipping her ponytail about as she did. "I'm really glad that you trust me enough to tell me… and I promise I won't tell a soul."

"Thanks, Sky."

"Don't mention it." Sky looked at her remaining teammates, keeping Samey and Zoey in mind since they still weren't present. "So," she began, trying to forget the awkwardness her previous conversation with Mike. "Would you be ready to jump?"

"J-Jump…? I mean…" He peeked down the mountain, to see if Zoey was returning with Samey or not. _She's not here_ , he thought to himself. _I may as well go ahead and jump. At least she won't see what's going to happen, and I won't make a bigger fool out of myself than I already am._

He inhaled a large amount of air through his nose and stood tall and proud. "Alright, Sky. I'm ready."

"Awesome," Sky complimented, giving the boy a fist-bump.

Team Maskwak, however, was anything but organized. Sam was teaching Cameron how to play red hands (the less painful version of the game). The blue mockingbird had followed Ella; she and Dawn were watching it with complete fascination. Dakota was texting, and Anne Maria was applying her nth layer of hairspray without a care in the world. Topher was eyeing Team Kinosewak, narrating their actions.

"Ooh, and it seems like the next person who will be jumping for the Pimple Popper Kinosewak is Mike, Mikey, Michael, The Mikester, if you will…"

"Please, stop doing that," Mike insisted. Sky overheard this too, and corrected him, "And it's Pimâpotew, not Pimple Popper!"

But Topher didn't hear them. He looked below him at his idol Chris, waving feverishly to get him to look back. He didn't.

Scarlett was the only one on Team Maskwak paying any attention to the challenge. Her mind was filled with hateful opinions towards her teammates. A flash of satisfaction appeared in her mind briefly, which was from the fact that Max was gone. But it was merely a flash, as her thoughts focused back on her distracted teammates.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Scarlett:** "Well, it's official. Team Maskwak is the loser team. Sure, we have good assets like Shawn, B, and I, heh… but Team Kinosewak has Lightning, Jo, Sky, Brick, Scott, _and_ Jasmine. Their team is obviously the stronger team. Physically, that is. Our team is a… different kind of strong. That makes this a living example of the classic trope, 'brain vs. brawn.' I wonder who will claim victory in the end…"

* * *

"You two," Scarlett called out to Sam and Cameron. "One of you should jump next."

Cameron held his hands in front of his face and started walking away from Scarlett. "No, I can't jump! You can do it, Scarlett!"

"Why not?" she asked, traces of anger in her voice.

"I… I don't know how to swim!"

Chef walked up to Chris with a glass of limeade on a silver platter and handed it to him. He took it with a cheesy grin and his lips closed on the striped straw. Not one drop of limeade went to his mouth, because immediately after, he overheard what Cameron said, dropped the glass to the sand (letting the drink spill much to Chef's irritation), and smiled eagerly.

"Hey Chef," he said, his smile forming into a wicked curve. "Do you think he's gonna do it?"

Chef pulled out a brown leather bag from behind his back, wearing a grin similar to Chris's. "Oh, Cameron? Definitely," he laughed, letting his voice drop an octave lower than usual.

"You've never swam before?" Sam asked the bubble boy, adjusting his glasses.

"Outside of this morning, never… but I heard once that amoebas can eat your brain if you swim for too long!"

Topher took a break from annotating and joined the conversation. "I'm sure Chris would've checked that out before he made us do the challenge."

"That's right, Topher! I sure did!" Chris yelled to those on the cliff using a megaphone. "But we're not sure if Lake Pahkitew has amoebas or not! The intern who tested out this challenge didn't survive long enough to tell us!"

Cameron gulped and his hands went clammy. "That's it! I can't do this challenge!"

"What?!" Scarlett gasped. "You can't quit!"

"Oh," Chris called mid-laughter. "He certainly can! Cameron, make your way down the mountain and come stand with B and Lightning!"

Cameron hung his head low and began to walk down the mountain. "Sorry guys," he apologized, with his hands in the pockets of his orange swim trunks. "I'm just a weak good-for-nothing. I'll only be in the way…"

"Hey," Sam consoled, patting the bubble boy on the back. It wasn't his intention, but Cameron was pushed into taking a step forward. "Don't forget that under your soft exterior is a really smart brain."

"Think of it like this," Dawn piped up, raising a finger to explain. "Don't compare yourself to others, because it's exactly like comparing the sun and the moon; complete opposites. When you feel down, just remember that the moon will eventually rise to rule the night. You'll get your time to shine, Cameron. All you have to do is wait for it."

"Thanks, you two. I'll be rooting for you at the bottom!" Cameron waved to his team and smiled with appreciation, specifically towards Sam and Dawn. His hands found their way back into his pockets and his smile turned out to be short-lived. Then he began walking down the mountain.

Cameron looked at the woods to see if Shawn and Max had returned yet. Two people did, in fact, run out of the woods, but they didn't have a stroller with them. He turned around and informed everyone, "Hey, here comes Zoey and Samey!"

Mike turned to face a faraway Zoey and Samey with horror. "Oh no," he said to himself. "Oh no, oh no, oh no…" His fingers went to his teeth and he began biting his fingernails. "Jasmine, please hurry up…" he told himself through closed teeth.

But Zoey and Samey were getting closer, and they were running, in fact.

"That bikini looks great on you, Samey! Blue really brings out your eyes."

"Thanks, but… I'm sure it would look better on my sister…"

Their voices were faint, but Mike could hear them clearly. And they were getting louder.

"And here comes Jasmine with an unhappy Jo! Team Kinosewak, your next jumper may jump the cliff!" Chris announced.

"Phew," Mike sighed. Sky wished him good luck, and he replied with a nervous toothy grin. He stepped up to the edge quickly, so that he could jump before Zoey arrived. With one final breath, he said to himself, "I don't think I can do this…"

Sky heard this and tried to give him another pep talk. "Mike, if you-"

But Mike didn't get to hear it. He gasped loudly, and his eyes seemed to roll back into his head. Sky thought he was going to faint, and held her arms out behind the boy to catch him, but he remained standing. He looked back at her with determined, sparkling eyes.

After a concerned look from Sky, Mike began stretching his arms, and spoke in a thick Russian accent. "But for Svetlana, the Olympic gymnastics champion, this shall be nothing more than a cakewalk!"

"…Mike?"

He ignored her completely, and dove off the cliff with perfect form. He sung a high note like an opera singer as he fell, and landed in the water gracefully.

Zoey and Samey reached the top, confused about the sound they just heard. The redhead girl looked around and her eyes showed worry. "Where did Mike go?"

"He's 500 feet below us," answered Sky.

Zoey looked down at Lake Pahkitew, and noticed Mike swimming on the surface; his arms moving like helicopter blades and the waves they created resembled those of jet skis. "Wow," she said in awe. "I didn't take Mike for the swimming type."

"Neither did I," Sky admitted, although she knew that there was more to this story than meets the eye.

"I just didn't expect that Mike would have already jumped. Something was obviously bothering him, but he didn't say what it was…"

Sky covered her mouth and burped softly. "Ah, sorry… I guess we'll never know."

"Aw," Zoey said, looking to the side and playing with her bracelets sadly.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Sky:** "I belch when I'm nervous. During tests, or when I'm near a guy I really like, and especially when I keep a secret from slipping out. But like I told Mike, I really am a trustworthy person. The only thing that could betray me is my burping habit… but as long as people don't know that I burp when nervous, I should be fine!"

 **Mike:** "I don't even remember jumping, but I'll try to explain what happened the best I can. I… I'm an actor. I'm always playing new characters to expand my talents as a professional thespian! (he speaks unsurely) I played Svetlana, right? Sometimes I'm so into character that I don't even remember my actions. But Svetlana is just a character. People think I'm weird for doing it, but it's not like I can control it. (his eyes widen) …Ah, wait! Do over, do over!"

* * *

As Jo stormed over to Lightning and B, Shawn and Max became visible and neared the shore. "There's Shawn!" cried Scarlett. "Sam, do you want to go next?"

"I don't know," he said shyly. "You really think I can get a key faster than Mike? Those swimming skills popped out of nowhere like a jumpscare!"

Ella twirled around on tiptoe and leaned in towards Sam. "Fear not, my friend. I'll gladly jump for you!" Sam nodded supportively, and Ella skipped to the edge of the cliff, fluttering her fingers towards her as a way of telling the mockingbird to follow her.

She began warbling at the top of her lungs, hoping to attract more birds. The music seemed to echo across the entirety of Lake Pahkitew, bounce off the clouds, and resonate around each and every tree on the island.

Scarlett expected a whole flock of birds to come flying to Ella, but only six did. The seven birds flew frantically around each other playfully, creating a blur of color. "Up-up," Ella ordered, and held her bikini skirt up like she would when curtsying. After holding her arms out, the birds all landed on a different part of Ella's body. Two on one arm, two on the other, and the remaining three on her mermaid-patterned skirt.

Their tiny wings flapped ferociously, and the campers gasped when Ella was lifted off the ground.

"Incredible," Topher complimented.

"How marvelous," Dawn exclaimed.

"That's amazing," Dakota said, who was back on the phone with her photographers.

The multicolored birds gently carried Ella down the cliff, as she continued to sing. "Floating like a bubble, and nowhere is there trouble! The sky is grey but that's okay, because I'm floating on this day!"

She continued her song by humming as Chris sat up from his chair angrily. "That's not falling! And I already told you, you're not supposed to sing!" Ella didn't seem to hear him. He grabbed his megaphone and tried again. "Yo! Yo, Cindy!"

Ella yelped, and the birds were scared off. Ella fell for the remaining 300 feet, and gave out another opera-like scream, just like Svetlana's. Chris and Chef shared a laugh as Ella hit the water with a splat.

Mike, or Svetlana, stretched out her arms as she rose from the lake as if she was synchronized swimming. "Ah, I've done it once again," she praised herself, presenting a key to her team. Team Kinosewak cheered for the boy (girl?), but they were still confused about why he was speaking in a Russian accent.

As Svetlana swam away, Ella sank to the lake floor, but she was still conscious. A small golden key that was half-buried in sand had caught her eye. She reached out for it, fluttering her legs behind her to swim, until a shark noticed her and got in her way. He was like a soldier, guarding a treasure with his life.

She looked frightened at first, but then had an idea. The songbird used whatever oxygen she had left to hum a melody to the shark in order to calm it down.

Jasmine clapped as she saw Svetlana swim towards the shore, but the group of repetitive bubbles behind the Russian gymnast made Jasmine stop clapping. "Is that Ella?" she asked Shawn with alarm.

"She's screaming, it looks like," Shawn observed. "Do you think…?"

At this point, everyone on top of the cliff was looking down at the water. The bubbles were too small for them to see, but that didn't stop them from searching.

"Shawn, I'm going in to save her!" Jasmine declared, running at full speed towards the lake.

Chris was leaning up from his chair to watch the action. "As Mike, or whatever his name is, reaches the shore, Jasmine delays her team's lead by attempting to save Ella from drowning!"

"Jasmine, don't you dare!" Jo was pointing at the Australian girl with a hand shaky from rage. Jasmine had decided that if someone's life was in danger, than this challenge meant nothing to her.

Jasmine ran until the surface covered the bottom half of her legs, and jumped forward to dive. She spotted the bubbles and neared them, but suddenly, they stopped. "Ella!" she screamed. She was about to dive down to save the girl, however, she couldn't.

The shark, who resurfaced in front of Jasmine, seemed to smile at her. Not with malice, but with joy. Ella was unharmed, and was kneeling on the back of the shark's head, singing a high C.

Jasmine was absolutely speechless. Ella giggled a little, and then began to explain. "He was angry at first, but Bizet's Habanera from the Carmen Suite seemed to calm him down!"

Ella rubbed the shark's head and pointed forward. It began swimming to the shore faster than Jasmine did, creating clouds of water and mist.

"Great," Jo complained. "Now Ella's in the lead, thanks to Jasmine."

Mike and Shawn ran up to the beached shark, searching the lake for Jasmine. "I'm right here," a nasally voice said from underneath the shark.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Jasmine:** (she is holding her nose) "I was so confused with what happened, and before I knew it, I had grabbed onto the shark's fin, and then I ended up stuck under it! Do you know how much water went up my nose? Enough to live off of for two years!"

* * *

After Ella hopped onto the beach, Shawn rolled the shark back into the water on the count of three, and helped up a dizzy Jasmine. "Ow…" was all she could say.

Cameron had joined the group of four including Lightning, B, Jo, and Max. He was wearing a rubber chicken hat, and tried to stay a few feet away from Jo so that she wouldn't tease him for it. "Chris," Cameron asked. "Does she still have to push the stroller? I don't think that's fair for her team."

"What are you saying, idiot?" Max furiously yelled. "We would have the advantage!"

"I'm perfectly fine," Jasmine insisted, putting a palm on her forehead as she found her balance. "Don't worry about me, I should be okay."

"Yeah, I hope so. That sure did look like it hurt," Shawn sympathized. The two exchanged admiring smiles, much to Jo's disapproval.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Jo:** "So Jasmine was telling me about being Team Kinosewak's leader, and now she's over here being all buddy-buddy with someone from the other team! A leader should always put the wellbeing of their team first, not play around with the other one! Ooh… I've got my eye on her."

* * *

The host shot dissatisfied stares at Jasmine, Shawn, Ella, and Mike, who was lying on the sand. "Okay, we're all glad Jasmine's okay. Oh, and in other news, you have a challenge to finish!" Chef blew his air horn once again to get the four moving faster.

Ella hopped into Shawn's carriage and they were off. Jasmine had bent over by Mike, who was unconscious up until the air horn. He looked very pale and his eyelids were mildly vibrating.

"Mike, get up," Jasmine worryingly pleaded, patting his face to fully wake him up. He awoke with a gasp, spitting out a small amount of water onto the sand. The girl took his hand, helped him up, and led him towards their carriage.

"Jasmine," he said. "What happened?"

Jasmine helped Mike into the stroller, and started to push. "Looks like you wiped out or something. That was some impressive swimming out there, mate."

"Team Maskwak reclaims their lead, after a completely unnecessary dramatic moment!" Chris said through his megaphone.

Zoey looked among her remaining teammates. She walked up to Sky and whispered in her ear. "I'll jump next."

"Why are you whispering?"

"Because if they overhear me, they'll send their best swimmer to jump next."

Sky nodded. "Good thinking, Zoey."

Zoey beamed and spun one of her bracelets around her wrist, which resembled Sky's tendency to burp when nervous.

"But I don't know if I'll jump yet," the indie girl planned. "If they send a good swimmer, then either you, Brick, or Scott should jump."

"Got it." Sky looked over at Team Maskwak, to observe their remaining members. Topher, Scarlett, Dawn, Sam, Anne Maria, and Dakota. Anne Maria didn't seem like the swimming type, nor did Sam. Dakota looked like she would be too scared to jump. The other three were people Sky had to keep her eye on. Topher had a decent build, and Dawn loves nature, so she may have some experience with swimming. As for Scarlett, she was tricky… it's possible that she isn't that good at swimming, but Sky could only imagine what Scarlett had up her light green sleeves.

* * *

"Shawn, I'm nothing but grateful for your actions!" Ella complimented Shawn. "Volunteering for our team, working so hard, and saving Jasmine like that… you must be so exhausted."

"I'm just peachy, Ella," he replied, sarcastically. Her voice was enough to give him a sharp headache.

The songbird looked at Shawn and noticed his expression. It seemed determined at first, but after closer inspection, it was pure annoyance. She pondered whether to sing for him or not, and although she believes that music speaks words unspoken, she knew that conversations are needed sometimes. "So, Shawn, how do you like your teammates?"

"My teammates? I haven't gotten to meet them all personally; just you and the guys."

"I've already spoken to the girls, and they're quite friendly. You should make friends with them easily."

Shawn sighed. "I'm sorry, Ella, but I'm not here to make friends. I'm here to win the money."

"That's too bad…" Ella ended with a soft whimper.

The zombie survivalist was annoyed by this girl, but he didn't want to focus on running too much, or else he'd get tired faster. So he decided to keep talking to her.

"You've seen our team, right? What do you think about it?"

Ella tapped her chin. "What do I think? We're all so different, and our personalities are so distinct. We just need to get closer together, and hopefully, our team will become stronger as a result!"

"So, say… if our team didn't win, and we had to go through the campfire ceremony, who would you vote off?"

"Vote someone off? I never thought about that…" After a couple seconds of thought, Ella finally answered, "As much as it hurts me to say this, I would have to vote Max off."

Shawn raised an eyebrow. "Really? That's actually who I want voted off. What's your reasoning?"

"I want to bring us all together as a team, or even a family. Max just doesn't seem like he'd cooperate with any of us."

Shawn snickered briefly, and inputted, "He just bugs the crap out of me. That's why I want him gone." Ella didn't like the use of the word, "crap," and quickly changed the subject.

"Even though we are so different," she started. "We seem to have found something in common."

"…A hatred for Max?"

"No, a… a strong disliking for Max." Shawn gave an "oh, she's one of _those_ girls," eye roll. She continued, "So I was thinking, that if we really did lose, could we vote off Max together?"

"You mean, like some sort of pact?"

"Yes! We could even be alliances in this game!" Ella looked at Shawn with eager eyes, but he just looked to the side in thought. "Hate to say it, princess, but I'm pretty choosy about my alliances."

"Oh… you are?"

"Afraid so. Preparing for the zombie apocalypse teaches you a thing or two about trust. I just don't feel like I know you well enough to make an alliance with you." Ella looked down in defeat, but Shawn kept speaking in order to cheer her up. "But our pact is still on. If we lose this challenge, we both vote for Max."

"This feels wrong. Ganging up on him, I mean…"

Luckily for Shawn, he knew exactly what to say to assure Ella's vote. "It's just like you said; Max is uncooperative. If he wants to be evil, we'll show him evil. Deal?"

"Well… okay," Ella finally agreed. "Deal!"

* * *

Jasmine was running with Mike and the stroller faster than her other two times. It was her excitement that motivated her. "Mike, I still can't believe all that! I honestly never expected someone like you to be that skilled. Ah, no offense…"

"None taken," Mike said with a grin. "And thanks. I just had to leave fear behind and let determination take over."

"But it just seems weird."

Mike's heart felt like it jumped off the cliff for a second time. "Wh-What does…?"

"When you jumped, and dove, and swam… it just didn't feel like you. And then you said some girls name out of nowhere. Was it Sylvia?"

"Oh, you mean Svetlana?" Mike helped. He regretted saying it as soon as he did. "I'm an actor, and that's just one of my characters."

Jasmine tried not to burst out laughing. "You play characters? That's quite odd."

"That's what everyone says. But it helps me with my improv, and getting into character, and…" Mike didn't know what else to say, but one look at Jasmine and he knew that that was enough.

"So," Jasmine asked. "What other characters do you play?"

"Oh, there's not many… there's me, Svetlana the Russian gymnast, Chester the old man, Vito the bad boy, Manitoba Smith the treasure hunter…" He was about to list another name beginning with the letter M, but he seemed worried and decided not to.

"Interesting. Any more?"

Mike didn't want to seem too specific about his "role playing," so he lied and came up with more characters. "Sometimes I do Shinta the warrior, Sebastian the musician, Vince the French artist…"

Mike went quiet again, but Jasmine didn't seem to care. She already seemed more than entertained from this conversation.

"You know what would be really funny? If Mike was just a character, and you're actually some evil psychopath?" Jasmine laughed innocently to herself.

But to Mike, that innocent laughter turned cruel and horrific, and it began to claw its way inside his very soul. As that happened, it was almost as if something demonic was trying to tear its way out of Mike and present itself to the unsuspecting world. That harmless laughter seemed to unlock the Pandora's Box that was Mike. But before the demons could escape… something caught Jasmine's attention.

Just like Mike said earlier, Jasmine let determination take over. She spotted Shawn and Ella not too far in front of them.

"There they are," Jasmine whispered to Mike, pulling him out of his terrified state. Mike grabbed the sides of the stroller for safety, thinking that Jasmine was going to zip past the two with ease. But all Jasmine did was push the stroller away from her, go over to a nearby tree, and take another small limb; the second of the day.

Mike received the stick hesitantly. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

"I saw Shawn and B doing this earlier. Use this stick and pretend you're on a canoe. It'll make us go faster!"

"Got it!" Mike flipped the stick around to hold the thinner end and began pushing it off the ground. Thanks to Jasmine, the stroller went way faster than before.

Ella and Shawn turned their heads around in shock to find Jasmine and Mike hot on their tail. "Oh no!" Ella cried. "Run faster, Shawn!"

Shawn's grip tightened on the stroller, as if it was a motorcycle and he was speeding it up.

"Zombies are chasing me, zombies are chasing me, zombies are chasing me," Shawn chanted.

"Huntsman after my heart, huntsman after my heart, huntsman after my heart," Ella chanted.

Like a gondolier, Mike continued to "row" with the limb. This made running much easier for Jasmine, whose long legs contributed majorly to their overall speed.

And then they were neck and neck.

The camera followed the two couples and recorded them in slow-mo, first showing Shawn and Ella's surprised faces, and Jasmine and Mike's smug faces. When the camera resumed to normal speed, Jasmine and Mike had passed them.

"You're dead!" they both playfully cheered, and laughed together.

Ella leaned back in her seat, and dramatically pretended to faint. "I'm dead…" she murmured, only to join Jasmine and Mike in their laughter. Shawn, however, was deep in thought.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Shawn:** "I consider myself to be above average when it comes to my speed. But even without my stolen idea of a stick-oar, Jasmine would probably still be faster than me! And if she becomes a zombie… yikes. I just hope she turns into a slow zombie… (his eyes widen) or not a zombie at all, that'd be nice."

* * *

"There's the main lodge!" Jasmine pointed out, giving Mike a high-five. He stopped pushing his stick on the ground to throw it in front of Shawn's carriage. "Sorry, good luck, you two!"

Shawn had to jerk the stroller to the left to avoid the stick. Ella screamed at the top of her lungs as she was jolted along with the stroller. They didn't crash, but Mike's diversion did slow them down a couple seconds.

"Got your key?" Jasmine asked Mike, as they neared closer to the main lodge. Mike looked surprised as he pulled it out of his pocket. He held it up to examine all sides of it. "How'd this get here?"

"Crikey, you sure do take your acting career seriously, don't you?"

Mike forced a laugh. "Anything to get on Broadway, and whatnot…"

The boy climbed the steps to the porch, and tried to unlock the door with his key. He was quite persistent, and he took about twenty seconds longer than Lightning and Jo.

"Please let it be this one," Jasmine told the universe. "This is one of my only teammates I can tolerate so far." Jasmine bit her lip as Shawn parked his stroller beside Jasmine's.

"Man," Mike complained. "We've gotta go back."

Ella tiptoed up the wooden steps and passed Mike with an "excuse me." She looked at her key, and then the keyhole. "Shawn, I don't think…"

"Ella, you've gotta try! That might be the one!"

"But Shawn, it's too large!" She was right. The key was so wide that it wasn't able to even be inserted inside the keyhole.

Shawn motioned Ella to hop back in the stroller, and they left in an instant. "Congrats, sister," he told her sarcastically.

* * *

Zoey and Sky both watched their competition. The athlete noticed that Zoey's eyebrows were a bit stiff. "Something on your mind, Zoey?"

"I'm gonna jump. I don't care who goes for their team, but I'm still gonna jump."

Sky smiled, and exhaled a couple times as a laugh. "Glad to hear it. I'm proud of you."

"No, it's not just that…"

"Hm? Now what's up?"

Zoey watched the forest, waiting for Jasmine and Mike to appear. "I just need to talk to Mike."

Sky's hand went straight to her mouth, covering it to block any belching. Zoey seemed to think that that was quite strange, so she rubbed her upper lip as if it was itchy. _Good save,_ Sky told herself in her head. She cleared her throat and turned to Zoey. "You do that… I'll just be over here, then."

"Okay," Zoey said under a mask of happiness.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Sky:** "It hasn't even been a full day, and I'm already caught up in drama! This is bad… if keeping this secret distracts me too much, then… and I hate to say this… I may have to vote Zoey off when Team Kinosewak loses. If I want to stay focused, I'm gonna need to get rid of any distractions. I just hope it doesn't come to that… I know Zoey has a good head on her shoulders and wouldn't cause me any trouble on purpose. But for now, I'll just try to avoid her."

* * *

Anne Maria had pulled a can of hairspray out of her poof, and was spinning it around, just to pass the time. "Ugh, when is that zombie nut getting back here?"

"Hey, be patient," Sam insisted.

"Patient…?" Anne Maria asked, her voice cracking with fury. "That's it! I've had it with this two-bit show!"

She threw her spray can on the ground with a dull ring, letting it roll off the cliff. It hit the top of Max's head, knocking him out.

"I'm sick and tired of waiting! If you need me, I'll be at the bottom of the cliff!" She finished her sentence with a loud scoff, and stormed down the mountain.

Chris took out his megaphone once again. "It looks like Anne Maria is the second member of Team Maskwak to chicken out of this challenge, and the second person overall!"

Brick and Dave smiled with victory and gave each other a high-five. Dawn watched Anne Maria take exaggerated stomps down the mountain. The Jersey girl tripped over a rock and did somersaults for the remainder of the way down.

"Her aura stinks so badly," Dawn spoke up. "That I feel like I need to hold my nose around her."

Dakota and Topher began laughing at Anne Maria; not from Dawn's comment, but from Anne Maria's "trip" down the mountain.

"Okay," Sam said sternly, catching both the attentions of Dakota and Topher. "There's no need for that. What if someone laughed at you if you tripped?"

Topher shrugged it off. "I'd laugh with them, obviously. A good host always needs to have a fun-loving personality and a cheesy grin." Topher ended his sentence with a toothy smile and a thumbs-up to whatever camera was nearby. Sam shrugged to this.

"And me? I don't trip," Dakota bragged. Scarlett raised a finger to object, but then remembered how expertly Dakota walked across the Dock of Shame in high heels, which by the way had too many gaps to count.

A dizzy Anne Maria stumbled over beside Cameron, where Chef plopped a rubber chicken hat on her poof. It immediately fell off. Chef tried again, but failed.

Chris took a sip of his second limeade of the day and shot Chef a displeased look. "How hard is it to put a hat on somebody?"

"It's like trying to put a glove on a boulder," Chef grumbled. Anne Maria became angry. "Whoa, whoa! Rude!" Chef continued complaining, "Her hair's gettin' in the way!"

"Oh, I thought you were saying I had a big head or somethin'." With a proud smile, Anne Maria pulled out another can of hairspray and began applying it to her hair.

Jo nudged Lightning. "That girl gives the 100 Layer Challenge a run for its money."

Chef was completely weirded out by the Jersey girl, but then wore an understanding expression. "That's the problem," he deduced. He reached for Anne Maria's poof to pull the rest of her hairspray cans out, but he was ferociously slapped on the arm.

"Touch my poof, and I'll touch you," she threatened.

The girl had left a tan-colored handprint on Chef's arm, just like a caveman would to cave walls. Chef wiped the paint-like substance off his arm, and then stomped on the ground loud enough to shake the earth. Anne Maria's arms went straight to her sides at attention, and her pupils were the size of a grain of sand.

"That's more like it," Chef snickered. "Now, empty your hair!"

"But, what if I-"

"DID I ASK FOR ANY COMMENTARY, SOLDIER?! Well, did I?!"

"N-No sir…" It was the first time anyone had heard Anne Maria's voice shake so violently. Hesitantly, she reached into her poof and pulled out another can of hairspray.

"Faster, soldier," Chef ordered. "Does it look like I have all day?"

Anne Maria dropped her can to the ground and reached for another one to drop in the pile.

And another one.

And another one.

And another one.

And another one.

And another one.

And another one.

And another one.

And another one.

And another one.

And another one.

Chris looked like he was watching a magic show; a new twist to the trick where you pull a bunny out of a shiny top hat.

Anne Maria added a hairbrush, a comb, a pink handheld mirror, and lipsticks with every shade of pink imaginable to the pile.

Everyone was utterly speechless. Their mouths were hanging open in the shape of an O, yes, even B, but only one person had the courage to break the silence.

"You could probably sneak a dog into an airport with that hair," Brick exclaimed.

A few of the contestants giggled, but they were interrupted by Jasmine and Mike's arrival.

"It's all you, Zoey!" Sky cheered, throwing fists in the air. The indie girl smiled at Sky, and then looked down the edge of the cliff.

"It's okay," Zoey told herself. "It's okay, it's okay…" She squinted her eyes and dove off the cliff, screaming, "I'M OKAAAAAY!"

Shawn had appeared out of the woods, stomping loudly as he ran. Ella was grabbing the front rim of the stroller, letting the breeze swiftly play with her hair. Shawn held his hand up to his mouth and called out, "Next person for Team Maskwak!"

"Guess I'll take one for the team," Sam said, stepping up to the front of the two crowds. He tossed his glasses behind him, and leapt off the cliff. "CANNONBALL!" he yelled.

Zoey opened her eyes briefly to see the surface of the water seem to speed towards her. Her face twitched, and she braced herself for the water's impact. As soon as she was underwater, she saw a shark swimming towards her. She was about to call for help, until Sam's cannonball scared it off. It was a large splash, but it didn't compare to B's.

If they could, they would have taken a deep breath of relief once they saw that the shark was swimming away. But now the competition was back on; they both spotted a key in the sand.

With just one look at each other, Zoey and Sam dove for the key. Zoey's arms became tired from moving so much, and she struggled just to swim faster than Sam.

Sam, however, was focused on a memory rather than swimming fast.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Sam:** "Time to show everyone my special skills! Here's a hint: just think of Sonic the Hedgehog, but if he could breathe underwater." (he chuckles and smiles proudly)

* * *

The gamer's teeth clenched, and he prepared for his special move. He front-flipped, and used his legs to dash forward. Zoey saw his pleased smile, and she was completely caught off guard.

Sam continued to flip as Zoey tried to overcome her arm pain, but he was the one to grab the key first. Zoey looked at him with disappointment in her heart. She gave up and resurfaced for air, along with Sam.

"Challenge completed," Sam announced to his team. He noticed Zoey beside him, and was tempted to give her the key. "Sorry, Zoey."

"No, it's okay. That was some impressive swimming, Sam!"

Sam nodded with pride, but his grip on the key tightened. He was still thinking about giving her the key, because he didn't want to leave her alone in shark-infested waters.

"C'mon, Sam!" Cameron called out to the gamer. He sighed, and turned to Zoey. "Sorry, again… but good luck finding a key." Zoey waved to the boy as he swam away. "It's fine," she told herself. "Chris wouldn't really let a shark eat me alive, would he?" Her mind went back to all of the dangerous challenges from the previous three seasons, to see if she could try to prove her own point.

Sam could've done his flip-and-dash trick to swim back to shore, but he was dizzy enough. He flopped on the sand and spat the salty lake water out of his mouth. His teammates scolded him to get back up, but that was all they did. Shawn, however, actually took the effort of helping the gamer back up on his feet. Ella clapped her hands in excitement once he did, glad that he was being so supportive of his fellow teammates.

Shawn took Sam's hand and walked him over to the stroller. Jasmine was glad that Shawn was being supportive as well, but she had her eyes on the lake, watching for Zoey.

Anne Maria adjusted her chicken hat, and looked at Ella judgmentally. "What's with your clapping, and your blushing? You got a crush on Shawn or something?"

Ella covered her mouth to giggle. "Oh, no, that's not it at all! I admire his will to help his teammates. Nothing more, and-"

"Nothing less, I get it," Anne Maria finished her sentence with annoyance. "It's my fault for thinking a zombie freak could pick up a fairytale cardboard cutout. No offense." Ella continued the conversation with a happy tone, indicating no offense taken.

"Although Shawn and I did have a friendly chat through the woods," Ella informed.

"Uh-huh," a displeased Anne Maria commented. "What did you two talk about?"

"Oh!" she squealed. "I almost forgot to tell you."

"Tell me what now?"

The songbird leaned in towards Anne Maria and whispered in her ear, making sure that Max wouldn't hear her. Anne Maria nodded after Ella said what she did, and crossed her arms. "Oh, yeah, definitely. I'm in."

After searching a large portion of the lake floor, Zoey finally resurfaced with a key in hand, and made her way to Jasmine.

"Way to go, Zoey!" Mike complimented. Sky, Brick, and Jasmine all clapped for the girl.

Chris commentated on something about Sam being ahead of Zoey, but she didn't care. She was constantly gasping, and her arms were too sore. She couldn't care less about anything Chris had to say. She was starting to feel guilty for letting Sam take the key like that.

Jasmine felt bad for the girl, but that didn't clear her face from hope. She grinned sincerely and beckoned Zoey to keep swimming with both hands, showing her that she had faith in Zoey. Jasmine had even pushed the stroller closer to the water, to save Zoey the trouble of running.

Zoey finally reached the shore, and sat down in the stroller. She took a moment to breathe, but then noticed where she was sitting. "Ugh, the seat's all wet and squishy…"

Jasmine left with Zoey, and as she did, she felt the stroller's handle. It was wet from when she tried to save Ella, and some of the plastic was flaking off, sticking to Jasmine's hands.

"Sorry," Jasmine apologized on Chris's part. "This was probably the best Chris could afford, what with him spending all his money on plastic surgery or something." The two girls laughed as they disappeared from sight.

Topher seemed to laugh uncontrollably at this, earning him disapproving looks from Dawn, Scarlett, and Dakota.

"Can you stop laughing," Scarlett asked with so little emotion that it sounded more like a sentence. "We need to discuss who will be jumping next."

An upbeat poppy song began playing from somewhere on the ground. Dakota picked up a fuchsia cell phone. "Oh," she playfully giggled. "Sorry, you three chat. I have to take this." She spun around on her toes and began talking as if she was surprised by the call. Scarlett's eyes rolled, making Topher wonder if her eyes hurt from doing so all the time.

"I have no problem jumping next," Dawn volunteered.

Scarlett nodded. "Okay, you do that… but what can we do to make sure we get the right key? It's us four against the six of them."

"Don't forget Zoey and Sam," Topher reminded the redhead nerd.

Dawn looked up at the cloudy sky, thinking about how to solve this problem. "My tea leaves this morning predicted that this evening will be one of relief and happiness."

Topher rubbed his head. "Oh, yeah, right. You're that creepy witch girl who told me that I was orange or something."

"I'm not a witch," she said. Dawn turned around and giggled into her hand. "Watch what you say, Topher," she warned him.

"So, Dawn," Scarlett began. "What your tea leaves said; does that prove that we'll win the challenge?"

Dawn shook her head, letting her bangs flow gently in the brisk breeze. "I'm an aura reader, not a fortune teller. We should let Mother Earth decide who shall claim victory." Scarlett dispiritedly understood.

Brick, who had suddenly gotten bored, hopped down on the ground and began doing pushups. "Hup… one. Hup… two."

Sky looked at the cadet and got down beside him. "Great idea, Brick. We could use the extra exercise to prepare."

Brick looked at the remaining members of his team. Dave was sitting near the cliff's edge, looking at the horizon. Scott was standing up, trying to look anywhere that wasn't a person. Amy was glaring up something nasty at Samey, who kept her distance from her sister. Brick balanced on one hand and used his other one to call out to his team. "C'mon, you four! I tend to work better when I'm working with others."

"I don't mind pushups," Scott agreed, getting on the ground beside Brick. "But you work better with other people, huh? Guess that just makes you weak." Brick seemed to have taken this to heart and stopped doing pushups to think about it. Scott made sure to go faster than Brick, and reached ten pushups in no time.

Sky patted the cadet on the back, motivating him to keep focus. Dave got down beside Sky after checking to see if there were any anthills around (which there weren't), and struggled at his third pushup. That just left…

"Amy, Samey," Sky raised her voice. "Come train with us." Amy's face shifted into pure disgust, but Samey's face lit up. "Really? Can I?"

Samey lay down beside Dave, and began her pushups. Amy, however, turned up her nose to the offer, and not because she would have to do pushups beside either Samey or Scott. "I don't want to get as sweaty as Samey. She's so disgusting, her pit stains have pit stains!"

Dave cringed at the thought, and looked like he wanted to stand up. "No, I don't," Samey assured the boy. "She's just making stuff up." Dave sighed and got back down beside Samey. They continued to count their pushups, and Dave was surprised to hear that Samey was at a higher number than he was. "You're awfully good at pushups, Samey."

Samey blushed. "Oh, me? It's nothing… cheerleading practice comes in handy, I guess."

"Stop blushing," Amy ordered. "Your face is turning the color of blood, and it looks revolting!"

In the end, Amy refused to do pushups with her team, but Brick was happy that he could unite everyone else.

Topher was back to waving at Chris, trying to grab his attention. "Hey, Chris! Chris! Chrisssss!" The host finally decided to look at Topher. "Hi," was the only thing Topher said. Chris put his sunglasses back on and planned to ignore Topher for the rest of the day.

"No, no, no," Scarlett shook her head, slapping her forehead in disappointment. "That's not what I asked you to tell him."

After a good two minutes of trying again, Chris surrendered and looked back up at Topher. Topher had to look at Scarlett to remember what it was that she wanted him to say. "Um… since Max and Anne Maria chickened out… will two of us get to jump again… so we can grab the last two keys…?"

"Nope!" Chris yelled bluntly. "Everyone jumps only once! So two keys will be left in the lake, meaning it's possible that nobody will win this challenge!"

Everyone gasped. "But what happens then?" Mike asked.

Chris smirked devilishly, making Mike gulp. "If that happens, then both teams will be at the campfire ceremony! Think of it as a one-day mega-merge!"

"W-Wait," Anne Maria stammered, trying to pull her chicken hat off of her poof. "If that's the case, then I'll jump this time, for real…"

Chris made a loud buzzer noise. "All decisions are final in this challenge! Who pushes the stroller, and who chickens out or not!"

Anne Maria reached under the chicken hat into her poof to throw a can of hairspray at the ground. She ended up grabbing one off the ground only to throw it back.

"Way to go," Scarlett told Topher, devoid of emotion as always.

"What?" he laughed it off. "I always wanna talk to Chris, every chance I get! I mean, who wouldn't?" Chris overheard this from his lawn chair, and wondered if he actually hated Topher or not.

* * *

Jasmine and Zoey were almost at the main lodge. "How are you feeling?" Zoey would ask every other minute.

"Just fine," Jasmine said every time, although the more the time passed, the less she meant it.

Shawn and Sam ran back down the trail in the opposite direction. "Guess their key didn't work," Zoey pointed out. "I really hope this one works."

Jasmine exhaled with her bottom lip out, letting the air flow towards her forehead to cool it down. "You know what I say to myself when I could use some good luck?"

"No, what?"

"The koala says cluck to the platypus for luck!" This cheered Jasmine up, but Zoey was just politely laughing with confusion. "That's a bit out there… what does it mean?"

"Ah, nothing in particular," Jasmine told her, unsure of if it actually meant something or not. "It's just a lucky phrase I've adopted. My dad used to say it all the time, so I sort of caught on to it when I grew up."

Zoey had her eyes on the main lodge. Even though she couldn't see Jasmine's face, she could tell that she was happy to reminisce about a memory back in Australia. And then Jasmine sniffed.

This made Zoey turn around. "What, are you crying?"

"No, just from laughter. That phrase just always makes me laugh."

"…Oh. Alright."

Thinking her explanation to be reasonable, the indie girl faced forward again, and Jasmine thought that the conversation ended there. But Jasmine had just given Zoey an idea.

"The koala says cluck to the platypus for luck! The koala says cluck to the platypus for luck!" Zoey chanted.

Jasmine shrugged with one arm. "Ah, fine. What the heck?" They both chanted Jasmine's lucky phrase all the way to the main lodge. When they finally arrived, they didn't stop until Zoey's key went inside the keyhole.

"Oh, man…" Zoey hung her face down as she swiftly jumped over the stairs, back into the wet stroller. "I guess the platypus wasn't so lucky after all."

"It's okay," Jasmine assured the girl. "Let's head back to the beach. Suddenly, I've got a good feeling about this challenge."

* * *

Shawn had managed to stay some distance in front of Jasmine on the trail, but he was huffing with every step. "Dude, are you gonna be okay?" Sam asked.

"I'll be fine!" Shawn grunted. "You don't have to worry about me."

Sam faced forward in shock of Shawn's direct behavior. He rubbed his eyes and looked around at the blurry environment. "Ugh, I wish I had brought my glasses with me…"

"Someone can bring them down the mountain for you." Shawn was tempted to call Sam a worrywart, but swallowed his anger. He wasn't angry at Sam, just angry at himself for volunteering to push the strollers.

"Man… I was hoping on helping B out with the new bunk beds tonight."

Shawn was relieved to finally get his mind off of running and pushing the stroller. "Oh hey, that reminds me. What happened after I took Max to the infirmary?"

Sam chuckled. "Nothing much. Cameron and I helped B finish the measurements for the bed."

"Sorry I couldn't have been much help. I would've tried to, but then Max happened."

"We never did find out what happened at the infirmary."

Shawn started to smirk. "Max was laid down on one of those hospital beds, and he was so out of it, he was trying to count to 100 _and_ sing nursery rhymes at the same time!"

"Whoa," exclaimed Sam. "I still can't believe that a tape measure is what knocked him out."

"Just shows you how weak the guy is. If we lose this challenge, I'm planning on voting him off."

Sam looked at Shawn with surprise. The zombie survivalist's face didn't move, letting Sam know that he was dead serious about his decision. "Well, I'll admit that he's weak, but he doesn't even compare to how weak the first boss of Zombie Revival 3: Judgement Day is!"

Shawn's ears perked up. "Zombie Revival 3? I've got that game on my GameBox!"

"Seriously? Sweet, man!"

Shawn cleared his throat and began speaking in a low-pitched British accent. "What were you all thinking? Your actions have made this city a city of fools!"

Sam turned around and sat on his knees. "That's one of Mayor Indie's lines, from the game trailer!"

They began to recite the rest of Mayor Indie's speech together.

"Thanks to your bloody mistakes, our people, our friends, our family… are dropping like flies. We must take action for our consequences. We will take our home back! We will brace ourselves for what may become World War III. We will raise our flags as high as possible, to show those zombies that we will not fall down! Or would you rather have the punishment fit the crime, and let the human race fall to extinction?! John F. Kennedy said that mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind. If we die, we die with honor! If we live, we live with honor!"

They shared a laugh and continued on the trail.

"You know, Mayor Indie was my favorite character, ever since the first Zombie Revival game," Sam said. "Too bad he dies at the end."

"H-Hey! Spoiler alert!"

Sam smacked his forehead in embarrassment. Shawn held his head back laughing and apologized, "Sorry, dude. Just joking, I already knew he died."

"Oh." They both continued to laugh. Shawn said, "You seem like a cool person. Would you want to be in an alliance with me?"

"An alliance? Definitely!"

"Awesome," Shawn celebrated with a fist pump to his chest.

* * *

Team Kinosewak had finished their fifty pushups. Only Scott, Brick, and Sky were able to get to fifty, however. Samey was nearing forty when she stopped, and Dave gave up after reaching the halfway mark.

Out of nowhere, a red and yellow hot air balloon appeared from the smoky clouds. Three men with cameras were riding it, aiming their cameras at Dakota.

"Oh," she squealed, jumping up and down. The model flipped the pink sunglasses she had on her head down to her face. "Finally! It's about time you showed up." She began turning around, changing poses every few seconds to make sure that the cameras captured all of her angles.

"Wha-?!" was all Chris could say. His eyes were glued to the hot air balloon, and he wished that the hot air balloon would somehow burn itself up. When that didn't work, he whistled for Chef. "Chef! The paparazzi's back!"

Chef rose from one of the nearby bushes with a bow and arrow. He aimed for the balloon, and released the arrow with a snicker.

"Move! You're hogging my limelight!" Dakota yelled at Topher, who was, as he would put it, "cool guy pointing at the camera." One of the photographers called out to Dakota, "That's brilliant! Let's see some finger guns!"

"Go for cool, playful chick this time, capisce?" another one called out. Dakota puckered her lips and pointed two finger guns at the camera. When she did, the balloon popped and the paparazzi fell to the lake. Dakota looked at her hands with horror. "D-Did I just…?!" The sharks swam after the three photographers and chased them off.

"Ahh," Chris happily sighed, laying back in his chair and giving Chef a high-five. "Good riddance. Annoying, clingy, and pointless… kinda like Topher." Chef responded with a rude laugh.

As the sharks swam back to the cliffside, Dakota realized what had really happened and stared Chef down. "Take it easy!" she pleaded.

"Look," Scarlett pointed to the woods that Shawn and Sam were running out of. "Dakota, can you jump next?" Without even looking at the redhead nerd, Dakota rubbed her fingers together to examine her nails. "Uh, no way."

"What?"

"If Chris can't let the photographers stay, then why should I have to do anything for him?"

Dawn put a hand on her heart and raised her other one. "I'll jump. Scarlett, try to convince Dakota to stay. We can't afford any more chickens!" Dawn ran to the edge and jumped high in the air. She got into lotus pose whilst in the air, and retained that pose for the entire fall down.

Scarlett turned back to Dakota and threw her hands down to emphasize her words. "Dakota, we need you to jump!"

"Why should I?"

"Because," Scarlett answered with a twitching eye. "If you don't jump, you'll be the one going home tonight."

Dakota gulped. Scarlett was glad that her words got to Dakota, but she restrained herself from losing her temper when she said it. The model's eyes were rapidly darting from the cliff's edge to her two teammates below her wearing rubber chicken hats.

After collecting her thoughts and finding the words to say, Dakota stood up straight and answered assertively. "So what if I go home tonight? This place is disgusting, and this show stinks! I don't care if I get voted off! So yeah! I'll chicken out!"

Scarlett's face did not move. "Then you'll have my vote tonight."

"If we lose, that is!"

"Oh…" Scarlett assured her. "There's no doubt about it."

Dakota pushed the redhead nerd to the side and walked down the mountain. Scarlett and Topher watched her every stomp, waiting to see if she would trip like Anne Maria.

"Guess she was right," Topher pointed out. "She really doesn't trip."

"Here comes Dakota, our third contestant from Team Maskwak and out of everyone to chicken out of the cliff dive! And Team Kinosewak still has no chickens… will the outcome be surprising or predictable in any form?" Chris annotated from the comfort of his lawn chair. "Team Maskwak sure needs some good luck now!"

Scarlett pivoted towards Topher on her heels and adjusted her glasses. "Please tell me you'll be jumping."

"Ha!" Topher laughed. "Why wouldn't I? Something like this would be too fun to miss out on!" He took a few steps and put his fists on his hips, posing like a superhero. "This show hasn't seen this much action since Total Drama Action, am I right, Chris?"

Chris didn't notice.

Scarlett crossed her arms. "Perfect," she complained. "I'm glad that you're jumping, but thanks to Dakota, the team ratio is now 3:1. It'll take a miracle for us to win."

The two were interrupted by Samey's cry. "Hey, there's Jasmine!" Scarlett and Topher both groaned.

Scott stepped forward, pushing Samey to the side. "Move over. I'm next."

"Wow," said Samey. "It's like you're not even afraid of the sharks."

"Hehe, please. I grew up on a farm. I know how to handle animals."

"We get it," Amy remarked. "You lived on a farm. Old MacDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-GO!"

With a sinister chuckle, Scott hopped off the edge with a cool head… only for him to scream in terror the rest of the way down.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Scott:** "It's not that I'm trying to win this challenge or anything. I'm only trying to fake my crush on Amy. And if she realizes that I'll obey anything she says, then she may start to have a thing for me! If that happens, it'll be even sweeter when I drop her from this game. Besides, I'm not sure if it's 'cuz Pappy's in the army and Mawmaw's a waitress, but… I kinda like taking orders!"

* * *

Dawn had been searching for a key for almost a minute now, but she was underwater for the entire time. She never even resurfaced for air.

Scott had just accidentally belly-flopped into the water. He stayed at the top of the lake for three reasons; to get to air easier, to be unnoticed by sharks, and to get a bigger view of the lake floor.

A shark had snuck up on Dawn. When she turned around, she held out her hands in an attempt to calm the creature down. She slowly moved out of its way, making sure to swim using gentle arm motions so that the shark wouldn't be alarmed. Thankfully, it didn't attack. But unfortunately for Dawn, it didn't move, either.

A key had caught the girl's eye, but she couldn't grab it just yet since the key was right below the shark.

It was about now that Scott noticed Dawn confronting the shark. He saw where Dawn was looking, and that's how he found the key. He took a breath of air before diving underwater, and swam as fast as he could towards the key. The shark could feel Scott swimming under it, and it tried to bite Scott's arm.

Dawn saw this as her chance to swipe the key. The shark kept biting for Scott to the point where he had to swim away. The moonchild floated to the lake floor, picked the key up, and headed for the shore. Even through all this, she never did go to the surface to breathe.

The shark bit Scott on the butt, and caused him to resurface to scream in pain as he grabbed his hips.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Scott:** (he walks in and sits down) "A-AHH! (he hops back up in pain) Why did I do that?! Stupid shark!"

* * *

Dawn swam to the shore with her key in hand. "Nice going, Dawn," Shawn complimented. "I actually thought you drowned or something." Dawn hopped into the stroller and they entered the woods, all while keeping their lead.

Tensions rose in the water as Scott had to deal with the shark, finding a key, and overcoming his shark bite. He eventually found one, but the shark never held back. The farm boy had had enough of the shark's nonsense, and crafted a plan. He waited for the shark to lunge, and when it was close enough, Scott kicked the shark's nose with his heel. Blood rose to the surface, and all the present campers gasped.

The shark floated to the surface of the lake and continued to bleed from its nose. The blood dripped into the pool and attracted the other two sharks.

Scott was relieved that his plan worked, and slowly swam backwards, away from the sharks, and towards the lake floor. Luckily for him, a key was right below his feet. He picked it up and swam towards Jasmine in a stealthy manner, as if he was a ninja.

Jasmine, of course, was cheering for Scott. Most of Team Kinosewak was, too. But altogether, the cheering was quieter than all the previous ones; most likely from the shark incident. Scott used this as an excuse to swim faster. He thought that less people were cheering for him because they were suspicious of him scheming anything, so he made sure to increase his speed.

As Scott reached the point where he could run, Jasmine rubbed her hands together for heat and then ran them down her face.

"Are you tired or something?" Scott asked, pretending to care.

Jasmine took a deep breath to prepare. "A little bit, but I won't let exhaustion get in the way of winning this challenge."

"My," Chris spoke through the megaphone. "Isn't that inspirational? Team Maskwak keeps their lead as Team Kinosewak desperately tries to catch up!"

Zoey waited for the two to leave, and looked over at Mike. He was watching the woods with his hands in the air, shouting motivational words such as, "Alright!" "Great job!" and "Way to go!"

"Ah… um, Mike?" she tapped his shoulder.

"Yeah? What is it, Zoey?"

She smiled timidly and rubbed the corner of her lip. "I was just going to ask if there's something bothering you." Mike's palms became sweaty.

"I'm just a little bummed out that we're in second place…"

Zoey knew that this was a lie. "Mike, I just want you to know that you can talk to me. I know that we don't know each other that well, but I actually really want to get to know you."

"Really?"

"Y-Yeah, really! And I know I shouldn't be intruding, but if anything's bothering you… you can come to me anytime. Okay?"

Mike closed his eyes, and took a deep breath through his mouth as he nodded.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Zoey:** "Wow… since when do I give pep talks like that? Do I really like Mike that much? Does he think I'm sticking my nose in his business? Does he think I'm annoying? (she closes her eyes and clenches her fists) Ugh… pull yourself together, Zoey. We trust each other."

 **Mike:** "O-Okay, I'll admit it… I'm not really an actor. I have multiple personality disorder… all my life, everyone at school thought that I was a weirdo who wouldn't stop playing pretend. I was teased for it, and people started to ignore me, and bully me, even... I can't believe I'm saying this, but… how do I know that Zoey will accept me for who I am? I haven't met another person my age that has. All I need to do is to keep pretending that I'm an actor, and to continue telling Zoey that nothing's wrong." (he sighs and leans forward)

* * *

Shawn was nearing the main lodge with Dawn. He had nearly identical opinions of Dawn and Ella; the only difference being that he could stand Dawn a little bit more.

Dawn looked back at her teammate; she noticed that he seemed unwell, and that he was straining himself to keep running. "I worry for you. Your chi is becoming very unstable…" Dawn touched the back of Shawn's hand, making him shake so much from fear that it looked like he was vibrating.

"I'll have you know that my chi is perfectly stable! I've got this," Shawn stated, getting annoyed at having to answer to constant questions and remarks about his health.

The girl examined his face for a moment more. "Can you stop, please? You're creeping me out," Shawn requested.

"My apologies, but Shawn… I sense that you believe that there is an evil force on Pahkitew Island."

Her words caught him off guard. "H-How did you know?" Dawn opened her mouth to answer, but Shawn interrupted her by saying, "Wait, don't answer that. I don't want to know."

Shawn sighed and continued. "Ever since this challenge started, I've come to the conclusion that there has been a zombie virus breakout on this island!" Dawn raised an eyebrow, but she didn't seem surprised. "Think about it! Everybody survived the jump without any major injuries! And what's more-"

"If I may," Dawn cut in. "I don't believe that zombies are real. I believe that once humans die, they don't come back to life."

Shawn sputtered for words. "B-But you stayed underwater for a good two minutes! Zombies don't need to breathe!"

"I've trained myself to spend long periods of time underwater." Shawn didn't believe a word that came out of her mouth. He had already begun forming theories of Dawn being a zombie.

Dawn pointed ahead of her. "The main lodge!" She clapped her hands to celebrate, while Shawn struggled to increase his speed. He checked to see if Dawn still had her key before completing his ninth run across the forest trail, which she did.

With a hopeful face, she climbed the steps to the porch and inserted her fancy black key into the keyhole. She jiggled it, but once she did, she left the porch with sorrow. "How unfortunate," she lamented.

"Damn straight," Shawn agreed. "I actually had a good feeling about that one." He waited for Dawn to step herself back into the stroller, then ran off after taking a breather. "Well, back we go."

The pair didn't get too far before they passed Jasmine and Scott.

"Seriously," Jasmine was in the middle of complimenting Scott. "I still can't get over how clever that was." The farm boy relished his praise from Jasmine, and boasted, "It's just like what I told Amy up on the cliff. I know a thing or two about how to handle animals."

They had arrived, and Scott almost tripped trying to get out of the stroller. "You know, I'm a big animal person. Birds, crocodiles, cats… you name it!"

"Crocodiles…?"

Scott was taken aback by this, and wondered how Jasmine would be able to handle crocodiles. He even missed the keyhole. Once he moved the key to the proper spot, he twisted the key with extraneous force, and then threw it on the ground. "Stupid key…"

"Well, don't just stand there and gripe! We need to get back in the lead." Scott groaned before trudging back to the stroller. "But yeah, I've had some crocodile encounters before."

"How'd that happen?" he asked as Jasmine began pushing her stroller.

"My father and I were out camping one day in Northern Australia." Scott unfortunately felt a story coming. "The scaly green beast was wandering around the campsite and stumbled onto our tents. She tried to get close to us, but the one thing you need to know about crocodiles is to never get close to them. If you get too close, chances are that they'll attack you."

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Jasmine:** "Don't get too close to a crocodile, or it may snap at you. Why do I feel like that phrase applies to Scott? Hmm…"

* * *

The remaining seven campers were still gathered on the top of the hill, eagerly waiting for their team's stroller to return. Scarlett reminded herself of how little her team's chance of success was by looking at the last five members of Team Kinosewak.

"Topher, I really need you to jump next," she pleaded. "You look like you would be a better swimmer than I."

"Yeah, yeah, of course." He had his phone out and was brushing his hair with his fingers using the phone's camera. Scarlett didn't have much faith in him.

Sky and Dave were sitting on the grass together. The two were bored of waiting, but they were enjoying their time together. Sky was pulling up small blades of grass out of the earth, and let them fly in the sharp breeze. Dave watched her as she did, and stiffened his shoulders out of discomfort.

Sky noticed this. "What?"

"Oh, uh… aren't you scared that there may be some weird bugs and spiders on the grass? And you're touching it with your bare hands…"

The athlete shot an amused look at Dave, who had been sitting on the possibly bug-abundant ground, and he stood up as fast as he could. "Right," he apologized, his uncomfortableness still present. "Good point."

"I appreciate your concern, but bugs don't bother me all that much. As long as they don't bite or sting, I'm fine." Sky continued to play with the grass carelessly… until Brick screamed.

"GAAAHHH!"

Brick was kneeling down, clutching the lower part of his leg in pain. The twins were gathered around the cadet to see what had happened.

"What the…?" was all Sky could say when she saw Brick's leg. It looked like it was beginning to swell up, and a small patch of reddened skin was now visible underneath his kneecap. In the center of the red skin, was a blood-red hole as small as the tip of a pencil.

"O-Oww… some sort of spider bit me!" Dave and Sky both looked at each other with concern for Brick. Although Dave desperately wanted to chant "I told you so," he restrained himself. If his mind wasn't focused on Brick, he would have done so to impress Sky.

Scarlett and Topher walked over to see what was up with all the commotion. "Allow me to examine," Scarlett offered. Team Kinosewak stepped out of the way to create a path to Brick.

The redhead nerd adjusted her glasses as she peered at Brick's bite. "This looks like a spider bite alright. A Japanese black angel spider, to be exact."

Dave hid behind Sky and looked over her shoulder. "That's awful… how did you not notice it, Brick?"

"I-I don't know…"

Scarlett explained for him. "Japanese black angels range from point five inches to one point five inches in length, so it's only normal that Brick wouldn't notice it on his leg. Their bites are poisonous, but thankfully, not lethal. We should get you to the infirmary, Brick."

Brick struggled to stand up, but he managed to do so. "This is nothing! I can still jump. It's just a measly spider bite!" Sky stood beside him and supported his upper body by holding his arms.

"You're obviously not okay, Brick…" she said. "We can jump for you. You need to rest and get your bite treated, alright?"

The cadet desperately wanted to stay, but after hearing a suggestion from both Sky, and possibly the smartest camper on the island, he had to rethink his decision.

"Brick, Japanese black angel bites are poisonous. We need to get you to the infirmary!" urged Scarlett.

Brick knelt back down to the ground after the pain rushed back to his leg like an unforeseeable thunderstorm to a quiet town. "Ahh… okay. I'll go."

Scarlett took Brick's arm to help him walk, and for that reason only. "You don't mind if I take you down there, do you?"

"Of course not. Your dedication to help is very much appreciated," he said with a smile.

Scarlett led Brick towards the downwards slope of the mountain, just before Brick turned around and saluted to his teammates. "Do me proud," he encouraged them. Sky saluted back without hesitation. Dave and Samey saluted with a nervous chuckle, and Amy just waved to Brick with her fingers, while wearing a smug face.

Topher, however, scrambled up to Scarlett and tried to pull her back. "W-Wait! You're helping the enemy!"

Scarlett sighed and gave Topher a stare so frightening that it let him know that she was in charge. "I'm helping the enemy because I'm not heartless, like you." The host wannabe was speechless as Scarlett and Topher went down the mountain.

"I'm going to need to watch over Brick," Scarlett called up to her last remaining teammate. "Meaning that I won't be able to jump for a key. Topher, you're our team's last hope. Do you understand?"

He shot her a thumbs-up. "Totally…"

Scarlett faced forward and continued to help Brick down the mountain. She thought to herself as she did.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Scarlett:** "Yes, I know that was a risky move; offering to take Brick down the mountain to the infirmary. That would drop one of the members from Team Kinosewak, but it would also drop me. I didn't have to volunteer, but now that I think about it, I need to lessen Team Maskwak's chances of winning. If that happens, then I will be able to vote off that pathetic excuse for a model. That way, this show will be approximately… 100% less headache-inducing."

* * *

Topher took rapid breaths and swung his arms by his sides, trying to overcome his fear of the drop. "Guess I'm jumping next... you got this, Topher. You're the man! You're the sexy, young host that a show like Total Drama deserves!"

"While… _that's_ going on," Amy began, pointing at Topher with her thumb. "Let's choose who's gonna jump next. Any volunteers?" Dave opened his mouth to volunteer, but Amy's question was completely rhetorical. "Oh, Samey? How kind of you!" The mean cheerleader shoved her sister towards the edge of the cliff, getting her inches away from falling off. She screamed as she looked down and fell back onto the grass, much like Dave when he first saw the sharks.

"I-I thought I could handle it…" Samey said in the middle of panting. "But… I'm sorry, guys. I just can't do it."

Dave held his mouth open. "Wait, you're gonna chicken out?"

"I'm really, really sorry…"

Sky took Samey's hands and held them in front of her. "Don't be. You have nothing to be ashamed of." Samey began to smile sincerely, until…

"Yeah, except for the fact that you're a chicken!" Amy shouted, howling with laughter. "Bwak bwak bwak bwaaaak!" Once she realized that nobody found this funny (well, maybe except Chris), she stopped making chicken noises and glared at her sister. "Now, get your butt down the mountain, Samey! Or should I say, 'Lamey!'"

"L-Lamey?!"

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Samey:** "Ugh… just when you thought that the nickname 'Samey' was bad enough, she gives me another nickname _for_ my nickname! Do you know how messed up that is? It hasn't even been a day, and Amy is already starting to get under my skin! I might actually say something to her now!"

* * *

Samey wore an angry face and pointed at the cliffside. "Well, let's see you do better!" Dave crossed his arms at Amy, and Sky raised her eyebrow and smiled, to show that they sided with Samey.

"Fine! You will," Amy bet. She walked up to the edge and looked straight down with ease. A shark poked its head out of the water and snapped its teeth to the sky. Amy shrieked at the sight of its sharp teeth and ran away; a reaction no better than Samey's.

When she saw her three teammates with smart expressions, she reclaimed her snooty attitude. "So what if I can't do it? I can't do everything! But one thing's for sure; if I can't do something, then Samey won't be able to either."

"You're both going to chicken out?" Sky asked the girls. Samey nodded, but Amy didn't move a muscle until she decided to pull her sister down the mountain. "So… that just leaves us, then," she told Dave as she watched the twins walk down to the other campers.

"Y-Yeah…"

Dave looked at Sky and requested, "Maybe you should jump next. You're obviously the better swimmer, so you'll grab a key before Topher does."

Cheers were heard from the bottom of the cliff. It was from Team Maskwak, for Shawn and Dawn's return. Topher held up two peace signs to his team below him and cannonballed off the cliff. "I'm coming, Chris!" he yelled.

"Uh… Sky?"

Sky heard Dave, but she would rather not be distracted. She was deep in thought; a thought so controversial to the rules that it may get Team Kinosewak disqualified. But she needed to find a loophole.

"Sky? Sky, hello?" He waved his hand in front of his face for Sky to see, but she didn't look at it.

While falling, Topher looked around for the nearest camera. He raised his voice to talk while screaming. "As you can see, I have everything Total Drama needs! The good looks, the welcoming personality, superstar potential-" He was interrupted by hitting the water that he somehow forgot about.

"There's Jasmine!" Samey shouted on her way down the mountain, pointing at the woods and jumping up and down. "Jump, Sky! Jump!" Amy took her wrist, squeezed it tight, and didn't let go until they got to level ground.

Sure enough, Jasmine and Scott became visible for all to see. Dave worryingly turned to Sky and urged, "Sky, they're here! Are you feeling okay?"

This was when Sky decided to acknowledge Dave. She snapped and her face lit up like a lamp.

"S-Sky?"

"I've got it!" she cried. "Dave, we need to jump together!"

Chris was intrigued enough by this conversation to stand up from his chair and listen with his undivided attention. Chef stood nearby, with a large orange book titled "Total Drama Revenge: Pahkitew Island - Rulebook." He was feverishly flipping through its pages, skimming every word as fast as he could.

Dave was astonished. "Can we really do that?"

"Chris never said anything about it. Besides, we have a better chance at finding the correct key if we both jump together!"

Chris eyed his partner, if you will. "Chef?" The large chef dropped the book to the sand and shrugged. The host grabbed his megaphone and called out to the final two members of Team Kinosewak. "There's nothing in the books! Jumping two at a time is perfectly legal, but you will both need to ride the stroller together! And you will need to find two keys!"

Sky looked at her partner with desperation. "You're okay with that, right? If we do it, it just might work! We could actually win this challenge!"

Dave took one look down the cliff, close enough to its edge to see the entire cliffside, and all of its rocky terror. "Dave, we don't have that much time left," Sky reminded him. She offered him her hand, and he hesitantly took it.

"Okay, I'll do it." They shared confident smiles.

"Let's win this challenge!" Sky shouted, with victory in her heart. Dave was pulled by Sky towards the edge, and with one last gasp… they jumped together.

"Ah… ahh… AHH! AHHHHHHHH! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Sky's grip on Dave's hand tightened, as a way to tell him to focus on her. "Let's try to stay together!"

"O-Okay…!"

With the surface of the lake approaching Sky faster and faster, as well as the wind numbing her senses of sound and feeling, she became scared. Then Dave gripped Sky's back.

"Hold your breath!" he screamed. With one final breath of air, they squinted their eyes and braced themselves for the impact. Before they knew it, they were submerged in shark-infested waters.

The two looked at each other once more. Sky pointed to a certain section of the lake floor, and they both swam towards it.

Topher didn't seem to have any trouble with finding a key, or with sharks. He rose to the surface and presented the key to his team. He knew that he had the spotlight now, so he took advantage of this moment to show off his teeth that glimmered like platinum.

Two sharks emerged from the lake behind Topher, and he turned around with frozen limbs.

"Swim, Topher!" Shawn screamed to the host wannabe. One of the sharks bit at him, but Topher was already swimming towards the shore, taking exaggerated gasps as his head rotated back and forth just like a professional swimmer.

"And," he managed to continue. "I also have potential for an action movie star! Such a variety of possibilities; why, it's just not fair!" The sharks both bit again, and he shrieked.

Sky had spotted one of the two keys she and Dave needed. A shark was some distance away from her, but her eye was on the prize. Slowly, but swiftly, she swam towards the floor, picking up the key and smiling at Dave, who didn't notice her smile. Dave had already swam away from Sky to get the second key. In the seemingly eternal blue atmosphere, Sky could see a grey shape, steadily swimming wherever it pleased. She became increasingly worried and tried to reach Dave.

She saw that Dave was already reaching for a key, and with one more look at the grey figure which was now larger and clearer, she grabbed Dave's arm and pulled him through the water. He was screaming, but Sky couldn't hear him that well. To get her attention, he raised his legs and kicked her arm as hard as he could to resist the water.

Dave was holding his neck and was struggling to hold his breath, so Sky let him go and they met up at the surface. They gasped loudly and started breathing as if they've never before, and they waited for each other to catch their breath before talking.

"S-Sky, what was that-"

"Dave!" she interrupted. "There was a shark coming towards you; I needed to get you out of that area!"

Dave, who was oblivious to the shark, widened his eyes. "Seriously?! H-How did I not…"

She wasn't listening. Again. "Sky, what's going on?"

Her eyes were fixed behind Dave, on the beady-eyed shark that was out for blood. She yelped and took hold of Dave's hand once again, taking him to shore. "Shark?" he fearfully asked. "SHARK?! SHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARK!"

Topher eventually outswam the two sharks and flopped onto the shore with a victorious taunting laugh. He stood up, and shook the water out of his hair like a dog would.

"Topher, let's go," Shawn beckoned, as Topher held up a hand in response. "Hang on, I need to check with the big guy first." Chris rolled his eyes as he said this, but he couldn't help but grin.

"This _is_ the right key, isn't it, Chris?" Topher asked the host, holding up the key he found. The host shrugged at him. "I can't remember all the keys. You'll need to go try it out yourself on the main lodge door."

Topher raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you don't remember them?"

"Ugh… yes, Topher."

"Positive?"

"Is there an emergency exit to this conversation?"

"Topher," Shawn angrily called out to him. "We don't have time for this."

He raised his hand once again. "This isn't a time-based challenge, Shawn. Sheesh!" Shawn's fist clenched as Topher turned to his idol. "So, did you hear what I said when I was falling down the cliff?"

"Um, no?"

"Well then, allow me to repeat it for you. I think it's something you're gonna want to hear." As Topher began reiterating what he said before, Sky and Dave collapsed onto the shore together. Jasmine worryingly ran over and sat them both up. "Are you two okay?"

Sky rubbed her head. "I'm fine, just a little exhausted. Dave?"

The germaphobe spat out water and groaned. "A-OK," he answered, while not caring if anyone thought that that was a lie.

"Wait, Dave! You don't have a key with you!"

Dave groggily rolled over and pulled a key out of the pocket of his swimming trunks. "I'm pretty sure this is a key," he joked, to Sky's amusement.

"Thank goodness," she said, relieved. "Nice job, Dave."

Jasmine helped the two stand up, and ran them over to the stroller.

"Topher!" Shawn screamed, stomping his foot on the sand, scaring the other contestants. "Get in the stroller!"

" _Un momento, por favor,_ " Topher said in a poorly-executed Spanish accent, then continued talking to Chris. "We both agree that we both share equally handsome, completely natural masculine looks, don't we?"

"Sure. Why not?"

"Excellent. So, I was thinking-"

He didn't get to say what was on his mind. Shawn grabbed Topher's hair and pulled him backwards towards Team Maskwak's stroller. "In," he ordered. "NOW!"

"Okay, okay, chill dude! Just don't touch my hair again; it's basically a national treasure!"

Shawn had to breathe for a minute before pushing the stroller for the final time. Sky and Dave didn't get in the stroller yet; they were deciding how this would work first.

Sky started to add input. "We both have to sit in the stroller, so… does one of us have to sit on the other person's lap?" Sky and Dave looked at each other in horror after Sky realized what she had just said.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Dave:** "I, uh… have mixed feelings about this."

* * *

Jasmine noticed Shawn and Topher preparing to leave. "You two, we need to hurry up and decide who sits first!"

Sky turned to Dave. "Dave, do you mind getting in the stroller first?" Dave's eyes looked like they were about to pop. "W-Wait! No!" she shouted, waving her hands. "I don't mean it like that!"

"No, it's cool. I didn't take it like that," Dave said, though it was obviously not true.

Jasmine helped Dave into the stroller, and Sky slowly sat down on his lap. "Hold on," Dave reminded the athlete, who returned a smile. "I will. Thanks for looking out for me."

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Sky:** "Look. I didn't sit on his lap because I wanted to. I did it because I wanted to win the challenge. I know that may sound bad, but I just want you to know that I didn't enjoy it! Well, not like _that_ , anyways…"

* * *

With that, Jasmine strained herself to push the stroller at its heaviest; this was at the same time that Shawn finished resting. The campers watched with eagerness as the last two teams ran for the main lodge.

"Not that placements matter anymore," Chris announced. "But the two teams are neck-and-neck with their final members! Will one of the three keys be the correct one?"

Topher cleared his throat as he eavesdropped on Chris. "Find out next time, on Total… Drama… Revenge… Pahkitew Island!"

"We're not ending the episode, Topher! Let me do my job," Chris yelled to the boy, who was now invisible in the woods.

Zoey raised her hand and gestured for everyone to follow her. "Come on, everyone! Let's go cheer them on!" Team Kinosewak celebrated and ran with Zoey along the forest trail.

"Jasmine! Jasmine! Jasmine!" they chanted.

Sam hit a fist to his palm, then pointed towards Team Kinosewak. "Come, brethren! We have to support Shawn!" All his teammates grinned and exchanged uplifting looks. "On three," Sam announced, putting his hand in the middle of the crowd. "We say Waneyihtam Maskwak rules!"

He waited for his teammates to join by putting their hands on top of his. "Ready? Three, two, one!"

"Waneyihtam Maskwak rules!"

They threw their hands in the air, and they were off, chasing after Team Kinosewak to support Shawn. Chris chuckled as he slurped the last drop of limeade in his glass. Chef grabbed the front of his shirt, and pulled him up to his face. "Get up, maggot! Shouldn't you be waiting at the main lodge anyways to announce the winner?"

Chris handed him his glass. "Fine, I'll come. Bring your ATV with you?"

Chef had already pulled his ATV with camo print out from behind a nearby bush. He fed a wire out of the front with a hook on it, and attached it to Chris's chair. He turned on the ATV and drove forward, pulling Chris and his chair with it.

"Ahh," Chris sighed, getting in a comfortable position. He closed his eyes and dropped his shades to his face. Chef gave an evil smirk to the cameras as his speed increased to 70 miles per hour. Chris flew off the chair but managed to hang onto the back of it for dear life.

"CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEF!"

* * *

Brick and Scarlett were halfway through the trail. Scarlett made sure to keep an eye on Brick's leg every couple seconds. It began swelling up like a mosquito bite, and Brick's eyes twitched more than usual with every step. "Hang in there, Brick," Scarlett told the cadet. "We're almost there."

"It's nothing I can't handle," Brick admitted proudly. "Thanks again for escorting me."

"No problem, but…"

"What?"

"Your appreciation sounds… more than genuine. Did you not want to walk in these woods alone?"

Beads of sweat appeared on Brick's forehead which were immediately wiped off with the bottom of his white tank shirt. "I-I just happen to be afraid of the dark…"

"But it's not even dark out. It's in the middle of the afternoon."

Brick raised a hand in the air to present the woods around him. "These woods are pretty d-dark…"

"WOOHOO!"

The cadet screamed and almost tripped over his injured leg, but thankfully, Scarlett caught him. "Wh-What was that just now?!" he asked Scarlett in a cowardly, shaky voice.

Scarlett looked behind her. Jasmine and Shawn were pushing their strollers side-by-side, and the other teammates were parading behind them. "It's the others! Come on, let's get out of the way." She pulled Brick off of the trail to create a path for the two strollers.

Brick waved to his cheering teammates as they ran by, and Scarlett did the same, although she wasn't as cheerful as Brick was.

"You're not going to go cheer with them?" Brick asked the redhead nerd. "I'm fairly certain that I can walk by myself."

"I'm not going anywhere," Scarlett insisted. "You're scared of the dark, remember?" They exchanged smiles, which made Scarlett feel a whole lot happier than normal.

"Jasmine! Jasmine! Jasmine!"

"Shawn! Shawn! Shawn!"

"J-A-S-M-I-N-E," Samey chanted to a normal cheerleading rhythm. "Team Kinosewak is the team to beat!"

Amy peered at her sister. "That doesn't even rhyme! And to think, I thought your reading level was reduced to Dr. Seuss books."

Samey ignored her sister and continued running with the other campers.

"There's the main lodge!" Mike cried. "Go, Jasmine!"

"You can do this, Shawn," encouraged Cameron. Shawn didn't seem to run any faster, so he thought of a plan. "Hey, everyone! Let's eat Shawn's brains!"

Shawn looked back, but only for a second. "W-Wait, huh?"

Dawn nodded her head and held out her arms. "Brains…" In the end, Cameron got Sam, B, Dawn, Ella, and Max to hold out their arms like zombies. Anne Maria and Dakota weren't exactly in the mood to play pretend.

"Z-Z-ZOMBIES!"

He ran in a full sprint, as if he was running for his life. The funny part is, he actually thought he was.

Now, Shawn and Jasmine were about twenty meters from the main lodge. Chef was already there with the ATV, and so was Chris on his chair (although his hair was spiked back from all the wind).

"Jasmine," Shawn screamed to the Australian girl. "Save yourself! Run faster!"

"Uh, Shawn… they're not zombies."

"What?" He turned back again, and Jasmine used this as her chance to run faster than Shawn. "H-Hey, what was that?!"

"Sorry, mate! But thanks for the warning!" Jasmine parked her stroller right by the porch. Sky jumped off Dave's lap, and they ran up the steps together.

Dave gestured towards Sky. "Ladies first," he offered. She stuck her key into the door and wiggled it around to see if it was put in the wrong way.

"Okay," she said. "Your turn, Dave. You got this!"

Dave inserted his key into the keyhole with hope in his heart.

*chik*

Sky threw her hands in the air and gasped with joy. "Dave, you did it!"

Dave opened the door victoriously and presented it to his team, who celebrated for the boy.

Shawn had just parked his stroller, and he shrugged to his team. "Well, whatever. Nice work, everyone."

Chris, still dizzy from Chef's ATV ride, pulled out his megaphone and announced the winner. "Congratulations to the Pimâpotew Kinosewak! They have won the first challenge and are safe from elimination tonight!"

Scarlett and Brick just now arrived. They were both happy, even though Scarlett had to participate in the campfire ceremony.

Zoey and Samey ran up to Sky and the celebrated together. Mike high-fived Dave, and Lightning attempted to give him a chest bump, which only knocked the boy over.

Jo patted Jasmine on the back. "Nice work, long legs. You at least deserve some of the credit."

"Well, thanks. You did good too."

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Jo:** "Yeah, I'm glad that Jasmine helped us get the win. But we're not pals! I still have my eye on her."

 **Jasmine:** "I still can't believe that we won that challenge. It felt like forever! But major props to Shawn; I won't allow all that hard work without him getting any recognition." (she gives the camera a thumbs-up)

* * *

Amy and Scott were the first two people to walk inside the main lodge. It was very woodsy; the flooring was a gross blend of wooden planks and stone tiles. Moose antlers were hung up at the front of the room. Two wooden picnic tables were set up in front of the antlers with log stumps around them to serve as seats. There was a kitchen with a large open window to the side of the building.

"Ugh," was all Amy could say after she saw the place.

Scott pointed to eleven white boxes on the far table. "What are those?"

Chris let everyone enter the main lodge so that he could explain. "This is the prize for our winning team for today, Team Kinosewak! We ordered takeout Chinese food from Meiwei for all of you as a celebratory dinner! Tonight, you have permission to eat in your cabins. Enjoy your meal, campers!" They celebrated once again. Each member took a takeout box to bring to their cabins.

And then there were eleven. Chris eyed them all down. "Team Maskwak, I'll see you at tonight's elimination. One of you will be voted off of Total Drama Revenge: Pahkitew Island. So enjoy your dinner; which by the way will be Chef Hatchet's famous slop burgers. It may be your last and only meal on this island."

The atmosphere was immediately replaced with a tense and suspenseful one. Shawn looked at his teammates. He looked at Ella, and she nodded with a sad face. Then Ella repeated this action towards Anne Maria.

Chris touched the spikes of his hair with his finger, to see if they were actually as pointy as Chef had told him. "Ouch… you could prick someone's finger with these spikes."

Sam approached Chris with a snicker and pointed straight at his face. "Objection!" he shouted.

"Uh… what? Is that supposed to be a reference that I don't get?"

"Don't worry about it," Sam said while laughing.

"Oookay." Chris faced Team Maskwak one last time. "At sundown, follow the trail on the other side of the cabins. I'll see you at the campfire ceremony." The host left them speechless as he stepped out of the room.

Chef had already entered the kitchen through the back door and had his "slop burgers" prepared for them. "Slop burgers, come and get them," he said unenthusiastically. When the response he got was a chorus of groans, he slammed a fist on the table in front of him. "Let me rephrase that," he coarsely shouted. "Slop burgers! What you don't eat becomes breakfast!"

If the campers were allowed to, they would groan again. But they formed a line and received their "food."

Nobody really talked during their meal. They were all thinking about the evening ahead of them. And every camper knew exactly who they would vote off.

* * *

Sky stuck chopsticks into her takeout box, pulled out a clump of rice, and stuck it in her mouth with an "mmm."

"Victory sure does taste sweet," she stated while giving her teammates friendly looks.

Mike looked around at his team, who was sitting in a large open circle. "Thanks for inviting us to eat with you girls, Zoey. We can take advantage of this meal to get closer together with each other!"

"Totally," Zoey agreed.

Scott scoffed, but nobody felt like confronting him.

Jasmine swallowed the piece of broccoli in her mouth before speaking. "You know, I'm still impressed with the amount of dedication this team has. If it hadn't been for all of your bravery and quick thinking, we would've never gotten immunity."

"Uh, what bravery? Samey's as yellow as the chicken hat she was wearing earlier."

"Weren't you wearing one too, Amy?" Dave asked, which shut her up immediately.

Jo and Lightning were racing to see who could finish their box of Chinese food first. "Done," Jo cried victoriously.

"Sha-what?! Dude, how could you beat me? Meiwei's my favorite Asian restaurant of all time!"

"First off, don't call me dude."

Lightning shrugged with one hand. "How about bro?"

"Forget this," Jo said with her head hung down in annoyance. "Second, you should know that Meiwei's my favorite Asian restaurant, too! Guess it comes down to who wants to win more." Lightning seemed to take this to heart and he sniffed loudly as if he was about to cry. "Tonight's forecast is gonna be Lightning and emotional rainfall!" the football player whined.

Zoey, having been reminded of the weather, looked out of the window to see a beautiful blue and orange sunset. "Wow, everyone. Look at that!" They all stuck their chopsticks in their boxes, so that they could witness the sky on the porch. Soon, everyone was lined up on the porch.

Mike and Zoey goofily smiled together. "I would say wow," Mike started. "But that wouldn't do this sunset any justice." His team nodded in agreement.

"It looks just like a watercolor painting!" observed Samey.

Amy looked at her sister, but strangely, without any hatred. "You know, I actually have to agree with the hog for once. The sunset's nice."

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Samey:** "Yes! She actually agreed with me! (she pauses and looks at the camera) But… I'll just ignore that hog part. Other than that, I think we're making progress!"

* * *

Brick hobbled towards the cabin, and gave a friendly wave to his teammates. "Everyone enjoying their food?"

"Yeah. How's your leg doing?" Sky asked with concern.

"You don't need to worry about that! Chef just gave me some medicine and put some cream on the bite. I'll be fine in no time."

Dave shuddered as he looked at Brick's leg. "Sorry you had to miss out on the food," he apologized.

The cadet held up his box of takeout food and a plastic bag of fortune cookies along with it. "Who said that the meal was over?" he smirked, and his team (save for Scott and Jo) clapped in excitement.

They went inside after enjoying the sunset, and they were each given one fortune cookie.

"What's yours, Zoey?" Mike asked the indie girl.

Zoey cracked open her fortune cookie and pulled out the paper. "All things are difficult before they are easy."

"Kinda like this game?" Scott implored. The others thought it was shocking that Scott of all people would participate in a conversation such as one about fortune cookies.

"Yeah, just like Total Drama. What about you, Mike?"

Mike looked nervous, but read his fortune anyway. "Everyone was made unique, even you. Learn to love yourself."

Lightning looked confused. "That fortune was cornier than this rice!"

Samey stuck the entire fortune cookie in her mouth and pulled her paper out. "Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that."

"That's a Martin Luther King Jr. quote, if I'm not mistaken," Jasmine said, pointing at Samey's paper.

"Ha," laughed Amy. "I bet mine's better!" She crushed her cookie, letting crumbs fall onto the floor. She took one look at her paper and her face expressed complete confusion. "It's just a bunch of numbers. Are these the lottery numbers?"

Samey leaned over. "It looks like a phone number. Try calling it!"

Amy went to her bag and pulled out her flip phone. She dialed the number and waited for someone to pick up. "Hello?" She suddenly dropped her phone to the ground, and wore a disgusted face.

"What was it?" Jo asked.

Amy shuddered as she said, "They said, 'I'm in your house.'" It was as if a cold wind blew throughout the room, but after that wind had passed, they all laughed. Amy didn't want to think about it too much, so she quickly came to the conclusion that some worker at Meiwei decided to pull an immature prank.

"Okay, my turn," said Brick. He looked at his fortune and read with a confused voice, "Uh… your fortune is in another cookie?" They all laughed again and continued to eat. Mike was right; this meal did bring them closer together.

* * *

Tenseness overwhelmed the area as eleven campers sat on log stools in front of a crackling yellow fire. The blue night was starless, but the moon illuminated the sky in their place. Crickets and cicadas sang their tune for Team Maskwak as they prepared to eliminate one of their own members.

After a few minutes of waiting, Chris appeared from the forest trail and stood in front of the campers with a clipboard and a platter of ten marshmallows.

"Team Waneyihtam Maskwak," he began, shaking his head. "Most of you wanted to win. Others, not so much. Tonight, one of you will be walking the Dock of Shame and riding the Boat of Losers home."

The camera zoomed in on all of the campers' nervous expressions.

"Here's how voting is going to work. Each member will use the outhouse confessional to vote off a member. This way, you can keep your thoughts private from your teammates. All you need to do is say the name of who you want to vote off, and your vote is cast." Chris looked at his platter of marshmallows and his clipboard. "I will explain how voting works after everyone has cast their votes."

"In alphabetical order, I will call each member to visit the outhouse confessional to vote. May luck be in your favor tonight. Would the first member, Anne Maria, please go vote?" The host held up his hand towards the trail. Anne Maria reluctantly stood up and headed towards it.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Anne Maria:** (she sighs) "I made a promise with Ella that I would vote Max off. I don't care if he jumped or not; he gets on my nerves, and I haven't even known him for a whole day!"

 **B:** (holds up a piece of paper that reads "Topher")

 **Dawn:** "I need to vote for Dakota. I feel a darkness around her… a sort of twisted, evil darkness. If she stays on this island any longer, disaster will befall her. I must protect her by voting her off."

 **Max:** "Why did we lose? Because of that… _Shawn_. I don't care if he had trouble pushing those strollers! He was responsible for our loss! Feh…"

 **Shawn:** "I know… I said that I'd vote for Max, but… now I have to change my mind. Now that I think about it, why are they even on Total Drama in the first place, if they don't want to participate? So that's why I'm voting for-"

* * *

Chris and Topher both exited the woods together. Topher returned to his log, and Chris returned to his place in front of the campers. He held up his clipboard before speaking. "I have the results of your votes. Now, let's see… the first vote goes to…"

"Wait a minute," Anne Maria interrupted. "You said you were gonna explain this elimination thing to us, right?"

"You haven't watched Total Drama before?" Chris asked with a blank stare.

"Oh, definitely. But only the parts that interested me. Like those songs in the last season? Man, they were so good, I made Boyfriend Kisser my new ringtone!"

Ella held her hands in delight. "Oh, I love that song! Would you like to hear it?"

"Not now, Ella," Chris stopped her bluntly, making her sigh. "Here's how this elimination ceremony is going to work." He picked up his platter of marshmallows. "Ten marshmallows. Eleven campers. You all know marshmallows as a tasty, sugary treat that you can roast by the campfire to put in-between graham crackers and chocolate. Here on Total Drama, marshmallows represent life itself. When I call your name, please stand up and come receive your marshmallow. This means that you are safe from elimination, and you will stay for tomorrow's challenge."

Chris expertly spun the platter on one finger like a basketball player would to a basketball. "The person who does not have their name called, and who does not receive a marshmallow will be sent down the Dock of Shame, and be forced to ride the Boat of Losers home. And they cannot return." He leaned in for effect. " _Ever_." The campers felt a chill dance up their legs as he said this word.

The host picked up his clipboard. "I have seen your confessionals, and I have tallied the votes here. I will now proceed to call out names. The first camper safe from elimination tonight is…"

…

"B."

The silent inventor proudly stood up and went to receive his marshmallow.

"Sam."

The gamer jumped up and shouted, "Alright!" Chris popped a marshmallow onto the two campers' sticks.

"Dawn… Cameron."

Dawn and Cameron both smiled at each other as they stood up with their sticks.

"Scarlett."

She didn't seem too surprised by this. She merely adjusted her glasses and approached Chris.

"Ella."

Ella's eyes seemed to sparkle as she stood up. She gasped and twirled around before going to claim her marshmallow.

Chris looked at the remaining five campers sitting down by the fire. "You five were the only campers to receive votes. In no particular order: Shawn, Topher, Dakota, Anne Maria, and Max." The five looked at each other; Anne Maria and Max were angry, Topher and Shawn were shocked, and Dakota wasn't even the least bit scared. She had total faith that she would survive this elimination.

Chris cleared his throat and held up one of the last four marshmallows. "The next marshmallow goes to…"

…

…

…

"Max."

Max crossed his arms as he stood. As he strode over to Chris to get his marshmallow, Ella looked at Shawn, then at Anne Maria.

"Shawn."

"Sweet!" Shawn pumped a fist in the air and high-fived Sam when he got close enough.

That left Dakota, Topher, and Anne Maria.

"Anne Maria."

The Jersey girl sat up with an "oh," as she thought that she was dead meat. She recovered quickly though, and received her marshmallow with relief.

Chris looked at the last two members of Team Maskwak; Dakota and Topher. Dakota had lost hope in herself and began to file her nails ferociously, while Topher had his hands together in a prayer-like position by his face in shock.

"Campers," Chris announced emotionlessly, holding up the last marshmallow on the platter. "This… is the final marshmallow of the evening. Topher." The host wannabe jumped a little when Chris pointed at him.

"Topher, you did not cost your team the loss, but you did show your team that you don't really care about the challenges. And Dakota, you also showed everyone how little you care about winning. A spoiled brat, or an annoying wannabe?"

Topher and Dakota looked at each other and shivered in the windy night. One of them had spent their last, and only day on Pahkitew Island.

Chris quirked an eyebrow. "The final marshmallow of the evening goes to…"

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

"…Dakota."

The model stood up and wiped the sweat off her forehead. "Phew… I thought I was a goner there!" She stuck her nail file into her back pocket and went to receive her marshmallow, leaving Topher all alone by the campfire.

"Topher," Chris told him. "You're the first person voted off of Total Drama Revenge: Pahkitew Island. The Dock of Shame is that-"

"Wait." He had slammed his hand on Chris's chest, scaring the other contestants. "You can't vote me off! I'm your biggest fan, Chris! We could be partners!"

"Partners?" Chris began laughing, and with every breath he took, Topher only became more and more angry. "We could never be partners! You're just a contestant, and I'm the host!"

"B-But…"

"And that's how it's gonna be."

Topher raised a finger as he struggled for words. It was shaking so violently, almost as if it was on fire.

"Let me repeat myself," said Chris. "The Dock… of Shame… is that-a-way."

Topher pulled down Chris's pointing arm with both hands. "No! This is a mistake! I can't be voted off of this show just yet!"

"And why not?"

"Because this show needs me! I could be the greatest host this show has ever seen!"

Sam nudged Shawn on the arm. "Yeah, the greatest out of two." They both laughed at this. Just like before, every laugh only made Topher even more furious. He raised his fists and stomped the ground as hard as he could, regardless of the pain.

"You know what?! FINE! I'll leave this show, but I'll be back for you, Chris!" Topher's finger was a millimeter away from touching Chris's neck, but he wasn't afraid. He only had to snap, which caused Chef to come out of the woods and put Topher's arms behind his back.

Chris snapped again while pointing to the trail. "Take him to the Boat of Losers." Chef's face didn't move an inch as he pulled Topher away from the campfire.

"No… no, no, please wait! I'll be your co-host! I can make you limeades better than Chef does! I'll boost ratings for sure! I can… I can…" But the situation was getting to him and all he could do was make small squeaking noises.

Chris waited until Chef and Topher were out of sight before talking to the now shortened Team Maskwak. "Campers, congratulations for surviving the vote. You're all safe… for tonight. Enjoy your marshmallows, and curfew's at 10:00. See you in the morning."

* * *

The ten campers were gathered around the fire, talking about the elimination.

Scarlett looked at Dawn. "I don't understand. You said that tonight would be one of relief and happiness. So why did we lose?"

"My tea leaves are rarely wrong," Dawn sighed. "But this evening isn't over." The campers lingered on that thought for a minute, before Ella spoke.

"I feel kind of bad for Topher," admitted Ella. "All he wanted to do was be close to his idol."

Cameron leaned in towards the fire to warm up his face. "That's fine, but if that's all he cares about, he had to go."

"Agreed."

"Definitely."

"Yeah, that's right."

Shawn looked at his burnt marshmallow and stuck it in his mouth. "I guess I should thank you all for what you did back there."

Anne Maria looked up. "Hm? What did we do now?"

"You all pretended to be zombies to make me go faster. Even though that didn't let us win, it just shows how much you guys are willing to support this team. And I respect that." Shawn adjusted his toque and smiled to his teammates. "But seriously, never do that again. That scared the life out of me."

Dawn stood up and pointed at the land below. "Look, it's Topher!" She began waving to the boy, causing everyone else to do so as well. "Topher!" she called out. When she caught the attentions of both Topher and Chef, she said, "We won't forget you!"

Topher cracked a half-smile, because he was still in shock of what happened. But Dawn and the others were glad that they were able to make him smile at least once before he left Pahkitew Island. They watched as Topher boarded the Boat of Losers, and as Chef drove him towards the horizon.

Dawn spun around to face Scarlett with a suggestive grin. By doing this, Scarlett understood that sending Topher off with as much of a smile as he could make was the relief and happiness Team Maskwak would experience tonight.

Max stood up and ran his fingers through his bright purple hair. "Well, I'm pooped. Let's all go to bed before it's nighttime. Scarlett, do you want to come with?"

Scarlett scowled. "I'm… not going to bed with you."

"I didn't mean it like that, fool. I just want someone to walk with."

"What? Are you scared of the dark, too?"

Max's mouth opened as if someone had just insulted the most important thing in his life. "O-Of course not, imbecile, I- wait. What do you mean by, 'too?'"

"Oh, nothing," Scarlett said as the two disappeared into the forest. She covered her mouth with her hand to contain her laughter.

Soon the other eight campers followed Scarlett and Max on the trail, mentally preparing themselves for whatever's in store for the morning.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Shawn:** "Sure, they told me that they were faking being zombies. But how do I know that? This is why I need my supplies back from Chef! (he pauses to think) You know, now that Chef's gone with Topher… this would be the perfect opportunity to go grab them! Camera crew, get your cameras. This is gonna be exciting. And… don't tell Chef." (he laughs as he exits the outhouse)

* * *

 **Anne Maria -** Max

 **B -** Topher

 **Cameron -** Topher

 **Dakota -** Topher

 **Dawn -** Dakota

 **Ella -** Max

 **Max -** Shawn

 **Sam -** Topher

 **Scarlett -** Dakota

 **Shawn -** Dakota

 **Topher -** Anne Maria

* * *

Topher \- 4

Dakota - 3

Max - 2

Shawn - 1

Anne Maria - 1

* * *

Elimination Order: **Topher**

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam - Voting)**

 **Anne Maria:** (she sighs) "I made a promise with Ella that I would vote Max off. I don't care if he jumped or not; he gets on my nerves, and I haven't even known him for a whole day!"

 **B:** (holds up a piece of paper that reads "Topher")

 **Cameron:** "I vote for Topher. Sorry, buddy. Flattery's not going to get you to the finale."

 **Dakota:** "Obviously I'm voting for Topher. That stupid, suck-up, wannabe Chris McLean! And don't even get me started on his outfit. The copycat thing he has going for him was sweet for a span of four seconds, but now… he's like a housecat wearing a Christmas sweater. A really, really ugly blue sweater."

 **Dawn:** "I need to vote for Dakota. I feel a darkness around her… a sort of twisted, evil darkness. If she stays on this island any longer, disaster will befall her. I must protect her by voting her off."

 **Ella:** "I'm sorry, Max, but if you won't cooperate with us, then we need to send you home."

 **Max:** "Why did we lose? Because of that… _Shawn_. I don't care if he had trouble pushing those strollers! He was responsible for our loss! Feh…"

 **Sam:** "I'm voting for Topher, because who stops a challenge just to talk to somebody? Not that this challenge relied on time or anything, but now we know what would happen if the next challenge is timed."

 **Scarlett:** "Dakota will have a great time off the island. She can be with her daddy some more, have more air conditioning, complain less... besides, she quit the challenge because of her selfishness. It's ironic, really… if she gets voted off tonight, then her selfishness will also be her downfall."

 **Shawn:** "I know… I said that I'd vote for Max, but… now I have to change my mind. Now that I think about it, why are they even on Total Drama in the first place, if they don't want to participate? So that's why I'm voting for Dakota."

 **Topher:** "Anne Maria. Quitting the challenge because she gets _bored?!_ Who does that? If she keeps getting bored, she'll start to become useless."

* * *

~xxx~

~xxx~

~xxx~

 _Okay, yeah… I know. This chapter is super long. But this was just something to try. If you think that this chapter was too long, then I'll try to split it up into two chapters next time._

 _As for this chapter's elimination, I'm sorry to the Topher fans out there. I know not many of you exist, but you still exist, so… yeah. But don't worry; this won't be the last we'll see of Topher. I'll make sure that every character continues to play a constant role in this series, regardless of whether or not they get voted off._

 _I hope that this chapter serves as a good first challenge for the insanity that is Total Drama Revenge: Pahkitew Island. Since this challenge is formulaic (as in: this person jumps, grabs a key, tries a key, comes back if it doesn't work, repeat), I tried to make this episode focus more on character interactions. And even though I know how their interactions seem, but I promise that Brick and Scarlett will not be a couple. It's just a one-time interaction._

 _Ships are another thing I want to talk about. I will be including some canon ships in this story such as Mike x Zoey, Dakota x Sam, Sky x Dave, Jasmine x Shawn, and other minor crushes/ships in the show. That's not to say that I won't be including my ships; in fact, I have two major ships planned for later. But I won't say who they involve just yet. But I would like to hear your thoughts on ships, or even friendships. What ships/friendships would you like to see in my story? Just review or PM me, and I may incorporate them into the story._

 _Another thing that I want to mention relates to the music that I listened to while writing this. It was the OST to my first ever video game: Drawn to Life. If you don't know about that game, and you have a creative mind, I highly recommend that you buy it for the DS. The soundtrack is so nostalgic for me, the visuals are incredible, and the storyline is one of the best I've ever seen in a video game. And the gameplay is so player-interactive, which is one of my favorite parts of the series. Actually, by series, I just mean the game and its sequel, but seriously. Buy Drawn to Life if you haven't already, and if you don't want to, listen to the soundtrack. As I'm speaking about the one video game that I hold close to my heart, nothing would make me happier. Guess I'm done advertising. xP_

 _Once again, let me know if you find any errors, whether it be grammatical or regarding the story._

 _I suppose that's all. So, stay fresh everyone. Until next time. *finger guns*_


	4. Chapter 3A: A Shock and a Hard Place

**Disclaimer: I do not own Total Drama, its characters, or anything else related to the series.**

 **Warning: This chapter of Total Drama Revenge: Pahkitew Island contains scenes of extreme stunts performed by fictional teenagers. Do not try any of what you read here at home. Seriously, you could get really messed up. Mild cursing.**

* * *

~Author's Note~

 _I expected to release this earlier. I didn't have as much time to update this because of how time-consuming band camp was, and because of how stressful moving my sister into college was. But at least this is the chapter that I've written in the least amount of time, so that's good, I suppose. Also, this should have been published yesterday, but then there was that whole situation with Fanfiction being down, so I had to wait until today._

 _As for this story, yes, I've decided to split each challenge into two chapters. I did this for two reasons. One, because some people may feel overwhelmed by reading such long chapters; and two, so I can update the story more frequently. This way, you won't have to wait as long for content. So yes, I think that this decision will benefit both me and my audience, as I don't have to stress about writing chapters as long as Living on the Edge. So… you can just think of Living on the Edge as a special hour-long episode to start off the season._

 _Thank you all for giving me your suggestions on ships. The requests were Ella, Cameron, Scarlett, Dawn, and Samey (the most popular request). I will certainly try to get these characters involved in a ship. As for the two ships planned for the story that I mentioned last chapter… I wonder if anyone mentioned here was a part of one? Guess we'll have to find out. I'm honestly excited to see how my two ships play out._

 _Yes, this chapter does include a challenge that is from the canon series. But the entire story won't be set up like this; in fact, the challenge after this one will be an original challenge created by me. Not an important fact, but I thought I should go ahead and mention it._

 _One more thing before I get to the "Replying to Reviews" portion of this chapter, let me just say something that I forgot to say last time. Total Drama Revenge: Pahkitew Island has been recommended on TvTropes, and I'd like to say thank you to bbb35 for adding that to the list of fanfics. I'm truly honored._

* * *

~Replying to Reviews~

 **ShadowJcreed** \- Yes, as I mentioned in the "Replying to Reviews" section of the Contestants Arrive chapter, I will be including canon challenges from Revenge of the Island, All Stars, Pahkitew Island, and the rest will be created by me. Thank you for your opinion regarding the length of the chapter.

 **ThorBringsTheThunder** \- Thank you very much, I certainly wasn't expecting such a positive review!

 **Gucci Mane LaFlare** \- Your kindness is much appreciated. I will continue trying to give each character at least equal screentime. As for Cameron and Scarlett, they will form a sort-of friendship with each other. I say "sort-of" because of Scarlett's closed-off personality, but I hope you enjoy what I come up with!

 **AnonBrowser** \- Glad to hear that you like Max too. Also, Shawn and Jasmine were definitely amazing characters as well. Samkota was not present in the last chapter, but I promise, they'll pop up. But I'll admit, Skave is my last favorite Total Drama couple. But I hope to do the ship justice. Sky and Dave were pretty much doomed ever since Keith was introduced. So in this fic, I will make one minor tweak; Keith and Sky broke up before her audition. I agree with you on Amy, she is definitely not worth dating. Or looking at. Or talking to. Or existing. Samey and Zoey may have a friendship, as I feel like their personalities mix very well. And finally, about Mal. I wonder…?

 **JOHNHAMMON1993** \- Respect for the Up reference!

 **DSX62415** \- I'm sorry but I've already confirmed that Ella x Dawn will not be a couple in this story, but they will have a friendship, so you could interpret that as a ship. Thank you for your suggestion, however.

 **Fear The Darkness Inside** \- Dakota is love, Dakota is life.

* * *

Alright, let's do this!

~xxx~

~xxx~

~xxx~

The sun wasn't too bright, the wind wasn't too fast, and all the leaves seemed to rustle against each other with delight, carelessly. Overall, it was a fair summer morning. The camera showed a recording of Pahkitew Island. Chris's voice was played over the recording. "Last time, on Total Drama Revenge: Pahkitew Island…"

"Twenty-two campers were split into two teams, and settled into the dirty, low-quality cabins we've provided for them!"

Chris was shown walking across the Dock of Shame with his hands behind his back. "For the first challenge, the campers had to battle it out by jumping off Pahkitew Island's tallest cliff into shark-infested waters! Either that… or they forfeited with the punishment of wearing cheap rubber chicken hats! Haha… But still, can you believe that everyone made it out alive?"

Clips of some of the most memorable scenes were shown to the audience; such as Mike (cough cough Svetlana) jumping off the cliff, Ella riding to shore with an entranced shark, Brick leading the others in doing pushups, Anne Maria tripping down the mountain after quitting, and everybody cheering Shawn and Jasmine on before the challenge ended.

The host shrugged and continued summarizing the previous challenge. "In the end, Team Kinosewak claimed victory and won their team a delicious Chinese takeout meal!" He rubbed his stomach for effect and hummed, "Mm-mm! Unfortunately, that meant that Team Maskwak was the losing team, and therefore, they had to participate in this season's first-ever marshmallow ceremony! After a suspenseful three to four minutes, it was my annoying, unofficial apprentice who got the first boot." Chris waved to the camera. "Sorry, Topher buddy. Admiration is one thing… copy-and-paste is another."

"Who will be the next camper voted off? What new dramatic storylines will randomly appear among these unsuspecting campers? And do I smell some possible new relationships? Find out about all this and more… this episode on Total… Drama… Revenge… Pahkitew Island!"

* * *

(theme songs plays)

"Dear Mom and Dad, I'm doing fine…" Chris and Topher were standing on a rock. Topher flashed his usual toothy smile as Chris pushed him off the rock.

"You guys are on my mind…" The camera zoomed up the mountain where the first challenge was held, and seemed to fall down into the water below.

"You asked me what I wanted to be…" B was hammering nails into what appeared to be a small motorboat, as Scott sat cross-legged inside the canoe with an annoyed face.

"And now I think the answer is plain to see…." Dawn collected seashells on the beach with a black trash bag. Amy and Samey weren't too far in front of her. Samey picked up a beautiful peach-colored seashell, only for Amy to take it from her and run off.

"I wanna be… famous!" Jasmine and Ella were in the forest together. Jasmine had a parrot of many colors perched on her long arm, while the multicolored mockingbirds had returned to dance around Ella. A large brown bear came out from the bushes and roared loudly, scaring the two off. Max was pointing and laughing nearby, but was oblivious to the purple snake that was hanging from a branch above him, reaching out to bite him.

"I wanna live close to the sun…" Sky was listening to a story from Dave while on a raft. The raft tipped over a waterfall, and they fell down with flailing limbs.

"Well pack your bags, 'cuz I've already won…" Lightning was weight-lifting a large log while standing on a larger log that looked like it was about to break. As the raft fell behind the boy, Sky and Dave fell onto Lightning and the weight of all three of them broke the larger log, and they continued to fall.

"Everything to prove, nothing in my way…" Scarlett was reading a book by the confessional outhouse when she noticed that Sam was walking towards her with his eyes glued to his GameGuy. She stepped backwards and let the gamer walk straight into the outhouse. Sam dropped his GameGuy once his face hit the wood as Scarlett laughed into her hand.

"I'll get there one day…" Chef had in front of him a pot of orange stew that he mixed with his arms. Shawn and Cameron were standing by the kitchen window, with distressed looks. They jumped back in fear as Chef forcefully set down two bowls of his stew in front of them.

"'Cuz I wanna be… famous!" Anne Maria was standing beside Shawn, spraying away at her hair with hairspray. Once she noticed the camera, her eyebrows furrowed and she sprayed at it.

"Na… na-na-na-na… na-na-na-na-na… na-na-na-na-na-na…" Brick and Jo were racing across the beach. Brick tripped over one of his black shoelaces, causing Jo to finish her run and celebrate.

"I wanna be… I wanna be… I wanna be famous! I wanna be… I wanna be… I wanna be famous!" On the Dock of Shame, Dakota grabbed the camera and kissed it, leaving a pink lipstick stain on the lens. As the cameraman uses cloth to wipe it off, Dakota ran to the end of the Dock of Shame and began posing as more cameramen surrounded her, taking pictures like there was no tomorrow. Chris flew over Dakota with his jetpack and dumped a bucket of water on her.

It is suddenly night, and Mike and Zoey hold hands as their heads move closer together. Chris interrupts the two as he holds a marshmallow on a stick that caught fire in front of their faces. Everyone is then seen sitting on log stools around a campfire, whistling the melody to the theme song.

* * *

Shawn and the other nine members of his team were standing at attention while Chef circled around the line that they formed. They were all facing the sun, but everyone looked down to prevent its scorching heat from burning their retinas. Every time Chef passed Shawn, he bit his lip. Not out of fear, but guilt.

The reason that Team Maskwak was lined up outside of their cabin at six in the morning was because of Shawn.

Chef made several disapproving grunts before stopping in front of the line. "I must say that I am very, very disappointed in this team. First, you lose a challenge. Next, I find out that someone refuses to part with their precious zombie bag!" In one quick movement, Chef leaned in towards Shawn.

"But listen, you can't do that," Shawn pled. "Without my supplies, we're 50% more likely to get our brains eaten in a zombie apocalypse!"

"Boy, did I say you could stand at ease?"

Shawn stiffened his arms by his sides with heavy vibrations. "Please," he begged, silently.

Chef could see that Shawn was desperate to keep his supplies, but he continued walking back and forth to show that he didn't care. "Defiant behavior like this must be tolerated. Let's see… what's the best way to teach this team a little thing called obedience…?"

The man snapped like he had an idea, although it was obvious that he planned this action out in advance. "Oh. I know…" He leaned forward once more and put his hands behind his back. The words he spoke were drawn out for effect.

"Island laps… every morning."

The campers groaned and gave accusing stares to Shawn, who kept a still face. The zombie survivalist wanted to keep defending himself, but when Chef started walking again, both he and his team went silent.

Chef held his right hand up to show the campers which direction to start running. "One lap around the island takes twenty to thirty minutes. Now do me a favor… and take twenty to thirty minutes!"

"Yes, sir," Team Maskwak said in unison. Chef nodded in amusement. "Now, get going!" he ordered. As the ten campers began running, Chef clapped loudly to motivate them. "Faster, soldiers!"

* * *

Shawn noticed Max slowing down, and although he didn't like the boy, he ran beside him. "Let's all stick together, everyone."

"Why should we?" Anne Maria asked with sass. "All we have to do is get around the island in half an hour." Shawn ignored her, much to her chagrin.

B noticed Cameron slowing down, and put his arms behind his back. Cameron's eyes were shut from coughing and panting, but when he opened them, he looked at B with a sincere smile. "Wait, are you serious?" All B could do was grin and nod. He let the bubble boy use his hands as a ladder, and before long, B was giving Cameron a piggyback ride.

Ella looked around at her team, and took note of their annoyed moods. "Perhaps I could sing a song for you all, if it would help cheer you up?"

"No, don't sing," Shawn answered. "You'll waste your breath."

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Shawn:** "Huh… that was a good excuse, right?"

* * *

Scarlett was having no trouble running, although she had to take off her green sweater and tie it around her waist. Dawn did the same.

"Does anybody else want to be Topher right now?" a tired Sam asked. Ten hands reached for the sky.

Dakota scoffed and wiped the sweat from her hairline. "Uh, totes! This sucks!"

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Dakota:** "Staying in dirty old cabins, being forced to do stupid challenges, and being stuck on this island with an idiotic host! I only auditioned for Total Drama to boost my popularity, but you know what? It isn't worth running for thirty minutes in the hot sun every morning!"

* * *

Sam looked at the model, and how her frustrated attitude seemed to have grown from more than exhaustion. He slowed himself down to run beside her. "You don't seem too well, Dakota."

"Uh… what's your name again?" She understood that this may have sounded rude, and hoped that a curious smile would help. Sam didn't seem to mind either way.

"I'm Sam. Nice to meet you."

The gamer held out his hand for a handshake, and Dakota accepted with uncertainty. She sighed and mentally prepared herself to vent.

"Anyway, so far, I just feel like the time I spent on Pahkitew Island was completely wasted."

"Wasted? You're dead?"

Dakota obviously didn't get this reference. "Um, no… I mean that I don't feel like I need to be here."

A couple of their teammates were looking back at the two, but they weren't fully eavesdropping. Sam slowed his pace down even more to create more distance, as well as privacy for him and Dakota. "Why not?" the gamer asked with concern.

"I can find other ways to get more popular. Seriously, I can just get on some more talk shows instead of going through this hell." Sam chuckled at this, and let Dakota continue venting. "And this entire contest is just too stressful! I'm trying to get along well with the others so I can get further in the show, but they're just too strange and weird! And how am I supposed to…"

The model lost her words, and looked at Sam, who was still listening with his full attention. Although Sam couldn't see it because of the orange sunglasses she was wearing, she looked away bashfully. "Thanks for listening, I guess… I feel a little better getting all that off my chest."

"No problem," Sam said. "The last thing I want is to see a fellow team member feeling down."

"You… really mean that?"

"Hehe, yeah. Cross my heart."

Dakota cracked a very, very faint smile as Sam drew an X on his chest and held up his hand. "Wow… you sure are nice, aren't you?" The two politely laughed together. They were still running, but the sensibility of the easygoing conversation made them feel like they were taking a leisurely stroll on the border of the woods and the shore.

The model stretched out her arms to yawn. "Seriously, if I don't get enough beauty sleep tomorrow, I'm going to lose it!"

"Hey, don't worry. I actually don't think that you need any beauty sleep."

Dakota tilted her head. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I-I didn't mean it in a mean way… I just think that you're naturally pretty. You have great… nostrils… ah, wait! No!"

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Sam:** (slaps forehead) "Nostrils? NOSTRILS?!"

* * *

Dakota pushed her glasses up to her forehead and beamed at Sam. Apparently she was still stuck on the "naturally beautiful" part, so she never heard the part about nostrils. "That's so sweet!"

Sam's arms shook briefly when Dakota put her glasses on her forehead. Her eyes were bloodshot and her eyelids were so black that it looked like her mascara had melted. "Great sons of Orion!" he screamed. Every head turned back to look at Sam, and he blushed with embarrassment.

Dakota immediately put the glasses back down on her face, so nobody would notice her avoiding eye contact with anybody. The one thought that was going through the both of their heads was, _This conversation could not be any more awkward._

Thankfully, Sam broke the awkward silence. "I'll run with you for the rest of the way around the island, okay, Dakota?"

"That's good… I need someone to talk to. So, thanks… it's Sam, right?"

"Yeah!"

"Sam… Sam… I'll be sure to remember that name."

* * *

The morning began peacefully for the female members of Team Kinosewak. Zoey sat up from her bed and let out a voice-straining yawn. After looking around, she noticed that Jasmine was the only person who was awake. The Australian girl was dressing into her everyday clothes, but she didn't notice Zoey.

"Oh, Jasmine," Zoey greeted quietly, so she wouldn't disturb the other four. "Good morning."

"Morning, Zoey. I didn't know you were awake."

Jasmine picked up a small Ziploc bag from her suitcase by her bunk bed. "Where are you off to?" Zoey asked. The indie girl could tell from her face that Jasmine wanted to leave in secret.

"I didn't want anyone to know, but I'm going foraging for food. Would you want to come with me?" She bent over and pulled another bag out of her luggage for Zoey.

"Really?" She eagerly took the bag and grinned from ear to ear. "I'm glad we'll be eating berries and nuts rather than those disgusting meals that were on Total Drama Island!"

Jasmine laughed. "I'm with you there, mate. But yeah, you're welcome to come with me."

"Great. Give me a minute to get ready, though."

"I won't rush you," Jasmine promised. "But don't dress up too nicely."

Zoey blushed as she looked at the hand mirror and hairbrush that she had just picked up. She knelt down to set her hairbrush on the floor, but she kept her mirror in front of her face. In the corner of the mirror, she noticed Samey sleeping on the bottom bunk of one of the beds with her arm uncomfortably dangling off the side.

Jasmine sprayed herself with sunscreen as she noticed Zoey looking at Samey with a sad face. "Something wrong, Zoey?"

"I was thinking," Zoey began. "Can we bring Samey, too?"

The Australian girl smiled as she tossed Zoey her sunscreen. "Of course. The more, the merrier."

Zoey caught the sunscreen, but had to juggle it in her hands to keep it from hitting the floor. Once she had a firm grip on it, she looked around nervously to see if the noise she made woke anyone up. Thankfully it didn't, so the two girls shared a laugh. "Careful, there," joked Jasmine.

As Zoey finished spraying her arms and legs with sunscreen, she tapped Samey on the back. "Samey, Jasmine and I are headed out. Wanna come with us?"

Samey groaned as she tried to rub the heavy sleep out of her eyes. "Zoey?"

"We're going to go find some food in the forest. Maybe we'll find some blueberries or strawberries!"

Samey rolled over and pivoted her shoulders to stretch. "Sounds fun! I'll get ready as fast as I can."

Zoey was now fully dressed, and patiently waited for Samey to get ready. Jasmine whispered in her ear, "Just wondering, but… is there a reason why you wanted to bring Samey with us?"

"You've had to have seen how her sister treats her…" the indie girl said with sympathy for the cheerleader. "I just want to let her know that she has friends here that she can turn to."

"That's awful kind of you, Zoey," Jasmine said while lightly punching Zoey's arm. "Besides, if she wants Amy's disrespectful attitude to end, there's no better way to do so than to stand up for yourself."

"Y-Yeah, I agree."

Samey approached the two, with a confused look. Her outfit consisted of an ocean blue crop top, salmon pink shorts, and a small jean jacket. Her hair was styled just like Jasmine's; in a ponytail with her bangs carelessly hanging by her face.

"Oh my gosh, Samey! You look so cute," Zoey complimented.

Samey was taken aback by this. "M-Me? I don't know…"

"No, really. You look great," Jasmine agreed. She gave the cheerleader a Ziploc bag, who took it enthusiastically. "Come on, girls. Let's go."

Jasmine slowly twisted the doorknob and opened it just as slow. She made sure to let the creaks be as silent as possible, as well as let the sunlight enter the room gradually, and not suddenly. After a chorus of "shh"s from Zoey and Samey, the three left the cabin and headed towards the forest.

* * *

Mike was sleeping on his side, with his face stuffed into a pillow. He began mumbling something that sounded like, "No, don't…" and "Go for the gold…" in a Russian accent. He shot up when the shrill sound of a whistle resonated throughout the cabin. The boy screamed and fell onto the floor.

The whistle woke the others up, too. Lightning also fell off of his bunk bed and landed on top of Mike. Dave hit his head on a wooden post (for the second time). All Scott did was open his eyes full of thin bloody cracks.

Brick was standing fully-dressed in the center of the room with his arms crossed. He dropped his whistle from his mouth and let it hang by his chest. His face, his eyes, his stance… everything about him was absolutely stern, and it felt like his entire body emanated fire.

"On your feet, you worthless animals," he spoke.

Dave, who had fallen to his knees from his forehead pain, looked up at the cadet. "Brick?"

Brick grabbed Dave's arm and pulled him up to his feet. "Attention, soldier! If I had planned on playing games today, I would've brought Monopoly! And why don't I make it a party and bring Cards Against freaking Humanity?"

Mike, along with Scott and Lightning, slowly got into an attention stance. "What exactly is going on here?" asked a sore Mike. "Have you always been this hardcore, Brick?"

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Brick:** "That wasn't really _me_ talking… I was just quoting my drill sergeant. (his arms tense up and he grins) I've never actually taken control like this before! This power feels incredible!"

* * *

After his four teammates were standing at attention, Brick put his hands behind his back and began to inspect them.

"Stand up straight," he told to Dave. He looked at Lightning's legs with disappointment. "My grandma's Chihuahua shakes less than your knees right now!"

"Lightning's not used to keeping his legs together for this long… if I keep standing like this, I'm gonna fall over like a domino!"

Brick tapped his chin and kept his eyes on Lightning's legs. "The fact that your legs are as wide as dominos doesn't exactly help your case, now does it?" The cadet walked away with a faint smile from being in charge, while Lightning's mouth dropped open.

He stopped in-between the four campers and began speaking to them. "Until I dismiss you, the only words that should leave your lips will be, 'sir, yes sir!' Are we clear?"

"Sir, yes sir!"

Brick nodded to this. "If any of you decide to say anything other than those three words, you will drop and give me as many pushups as I tell you! Are we clear?"

"Sir, yes sir!"

"The reason why I woke you all up was to tell you this. You should be proud of yourselves for winning yesterday's challenge. But you will not let victory get to your head. I do not believe in luck, and I do not believe in karma. What I believe depends on whether you give a crap or not. Just because we won immunity yesterday doesn't mean that we shouldn't try any harder today. For the final time, do I make myself clear?"

"Sir, yes sir!"

Brick looked at his four teammates with suspicion. He heard only three voices this time; not four. "You there," he pointed at Scott. "Care to tell us why you're going silent on us?"

"Sir, no sir," Scott said with sarcasm.

"Congratulations! You have just earned your team twenty pushups! Everyone down on the ground!" Everybody except for Scott went into pushup position. "I don't suppose you would want to increase the numbers, would you, Scott?"

Scott said nothing. His smug grin spoke for him.

"Scott, I order you to participate!"

The farm boy shrugged and turned to leave the cabin. "Who says I have to listen to you?"

"Y-You get back here this instant, soldier! I did not dismiss you yet!"

"Who… says… I have… to listen… to you?"

Brick was losing both his anger and power as he came more desperate to keep Scott in the cabin. But he left anyways.

Lightning cracked his knuckles and walked to his bunk bed. "Sorry, champ," he told Brick. "We get the message, so there's no way in hell I'm doing pushups, let alone thirty! Sha-tryhard much?"

Brick stammered for words as Mike and Dave both left to get dressed. They were both hesitant to do so, but they did anyway. It had just now occurred to him that Scott walked outside in his sleepwear, but Scott most likely didn't care.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Brick:** (he sighs) "I can't believe that didn't work! You try to bring your team closer together, and then they just up and leave on you! The fact that they dismissed themselves from attention means that they don't think that they need a leader, or any motivation, really! Did my speech mean nothing to them? (he leans in to whisper to the camera) If my drill sergeant is watching, I am ashamed and sorry to have sullied your good name." (he sighs again before getting up to leave)

* * *

Dave picked up a folded shirt from his bag and looked at Brick. "Sorry for leaving, Brick. I'm just not feeling it this morning. Maybe later?"

"That's fine…" admitted Brick with sorrow. "You don't have to. I just feel foolish for even attempting to do something like that."

"Why?" Mike asked. "You did the right thing. Your delivery could use some work, but I can tell that you had good intentions. Pushups or not, I got your message. Let's do our best today, alright, guys?"

This got Lightning hyped. He jumped off his bed, making sure to land as loudly as possible. "I'm in! High fives, high fives all around!"

He gave one to Brick. "Sha-team!"

He gave one to Mike. "Sha-team!"

He attempted to give one to Dave. "Sha-team?" Dave just winced his eye and backed away.

"N-No, I'm fine. No high-fives, please."

Chris's voice appeared out of the blue to fill the campgrounds. "Attention, campers. Hope you all slept well. Meet at the dining hall in ten minutes for breakfast!"

* * *

Every member of Team Kinosewak, save for the three girls who went to find food, met up before entering the main lodge. But Team Maskwak beat them all. They were all sitting at one table, eating last night's leftover slop burgers; only this time, a hole had been cut into the buns to make them look like slop bagels. When they weren't eating, they excessively breathed in air.

"Hey, we got here early," Jo said. "How did you all beat us?"

Anne Maria was resting her head on her arms, and her face screamed annoyance. "Thanks to zombie boy over here, we had to run a lap around the island this morning!" Team Maskwak's most easily-angered members shot Shawn a nasty look, but he didn't react. His mind was focused on something else.

"Where's Jasmine?" he asked, noticing that Team Kinosewak seemed a lot shorter as a collective group.

Sky shrugged. "We thought that she was in here. Zoey and Samey left too, and we don't know where they are."

"Ugh," Amy scoffed. "Who is she to sneak off without her older sister? When I find her, I'm going to give her a piece of my mind!"

Dawn took a bite of her slop bagel. "Now I understand why you're not the favorite child."

The mean cheerleader was absolutely insulted. "I think you have me confused with Samey, hippie chick! I'm obviously the favorite!"

"Ah, yes. All parents love teenage thumbsuckers."

The campers in the room began to snicker. "That's it," Amy threatened. "I'm putting your nature-loving ass six feet under!"

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Amy:** "Okay, whoa, whoa. First of all, I am the favorite child. No doubt about it. And second of all, I am _not_ a thumbsucker! That Dawn girl's just making stuff up!"

Chris: (enters the confessional and sits beside Amy) "Now it's time for a brand-new segment of Confessional Cam… Total Drama Scrapbook! We have a whole buttload of pictures to prove that Amy is, in fact, a thumbsucker!"

Amy: "E-Ew… why were you eavesdropping on me, you creep? And where did you get those pictures?!"

Chris: "Exhibit A. (he opens a brown scrapbook to show a picture of Amy sleeping in bed, sucking her thumb) Courtesy of your parents."

Amy: "Th-That is NOT me! That's Samey! (throws her fists around in a tantrum and screams as Chris continues flipping through the pages) THAT MOLE WAS PHOTOSHOPPED ON!"

* * *

It took Jo, Lightning, and Brick to hold Amy back from lunging at Dawn. Surprisingly, Dawn didn't have the slightest bit of fear on her face. She just continued eating her bagel without a single look at Amy.

Chef peeked through the kitchen window and placed eleven plates of slop bagels on the counter. "Rise and shine," he sarcastically greeted, and walked away with a smirk.

Dave walked up to one of the slop bagels and poked one of the buns with his finger. This left a small circular indention in the bread, and it slowly reformed its shape as if it was memory foam. "I-I think I'm gonna vomit!" Mike stepped out of his way so he could run out of the main lodge to puke.

"Mmm, smells delicious!" Brick approached the plates and took a big whiff of the bagels. You could see the visible grey smell that rose from the bagels moving towards his nose. He grabbed a plate, took a seat by the table, and began ferociously gobbling down the bagel.

Lightning grabbed onto the rim of the counter and called out to Chef, "Yo, Chef dude! Is there protein in this bagel?"

"Protein? Oh, definitely," Chef lied while stirring a pot of stew. Lightning gladly took a plate and began eating beside Brick. If you can think of an antonym for protein, then _that's_ what's in Chef's bagels.

After a few minutes, the rest of Team Kinosewak took their plates and poked the bread with the forks that they were provided with, just in case they didn't want to touch the bagels with their hands. Jo was the next person to gather the courage to eat the bagel. The only person who didn't get a bagel was Dave, as he had refused to eat anything this morning.

"Awesome," Brick celebrated. "More for me!" He and Chef gave each other supportive winks.

Chris entered the main lodge and greeted the campers. "Good morning, my victims! How is everyone's breakfast?"

"Outstanding!" Brick shouted, saluting with the fork that he hadn't picked up until just now.

"Disgusting," said everyone else.

The host chuckled. "Glad to hear it. Anybody know where Sky, Jasmine, and Samey are?" After receiving no answer from the campers, he turned to Chef, who also gave him no answer. "No one, huh? They'll show up eventually. If not, we can start the challenge without them."

Shawn started to look nervous. Scarlett noticed his strange behavior, but pretended to let the thought slide.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Scarlett:** "Three members from the other team have gone missing, and Shawn's suddenly worried about them? They can't be in any danger or anything. There's no reason to be nervous. Yet… Shawn is. I wonder what his deal is."

 **Shawn:** "Ever since the first challenge, I've started to really appreciate Jasmine. She's athletic, has great leadership qualities, she's hilarious, kinda cute... My point is, I don't care if she's on the other team or not. If I could save one person on this island from a zombie apocalypse, it'd be Jasmine." (he leans back and dreamily sighs)

* * *

"Until then," Chris began. "I'll let you all know what today's challenge is!" Team Maskwak groaned as their focus shifted from their disgusting breakfast to their sore leg muscles.

"Since yesterday's challenge may have been a little too hard on your nerves, we decided to give you guys a different kind of challenge. Not one that challenges you physically, but emotionally as well."

Ella raised her gloved hand (which had small stains from Chef's bagels on it) to speak. "Emotionally? How is that going to work?"

"Easy," Chris answered. "Anybody here ever played truth or dare?"

Jo sneered. "Our challenge is a simple game of truth or dare? How lame is that, am I right?"

"Wrong!" Chris shouted, piquing Jo's interest. "This challenge is not called Truth or Dare… but rather, Truth or Scare!"

Most of the campers became worried for what would happen during the challenge. Knowing Chris, he could have changed the name only to make the title sound more interesting. Or, there is the possibility that the challenge could actually be dangerous. They could only imagine what would happen.

With that, Chris turned to leave the main lodge.

"Hey, wait!" called Mike. "How is the challenge going to work?"

Chris shrugged. "I'll explain that after you all finish your meal. Meet at the cleared land behind your cabins. The fun… has just begun." Ending his sentence with a cartoonish evil laugh, everyone's mind was now filled with confusion and wonder.

* * *

After the campers ate breakfast, they went to the cleared area behind the cabins. A five-foot flat screen was set up on a small table. Two long logs had been placed on both sides of the table, and served as seats for the campers. On the ends of the logs were the team logos; red for Maskwak and green for Kinosewak.

Sky and Dave walked up to the end of Team Kinosewak's log, and the girl sat down. She placed a paper towel beside her that Dave could sit on, because of his mysophobia.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Sky:** "Dave and I have become close friends ever since yesterday's challenge. I'm still thinking that he likes me, but I don't want it to come to that. Dating is something that I just can't get involved with, especially right now. But that doesn't mean that I should, like, shun Dave or anything. He's a nice guy, and I enjoy his company. So yeah, if being friends with him means having to help him with his fear of germs, I'll do it."

* * *

Lightning dusted off a small area of the log before sitting down. As soon as he did, he fell backwards. Jo leaned forward and began belting out laughter. "Aw man, I didn't know we were playing Don't Tip the Cow!"

As Brick helped the football player up, Amy screamed to the forest at the top of her lungs. "SAMEY! Get your butt over here! We're playing your game!"

Mike looked at the people sitting on Team Maskwak's log. A sweaty bunch of ten diverse teenagers. Then, he looked at his own team. Including himself, there were eight members of Team Kinosewak. Zoey, Samey, and Jasmine were still missing. Finally, he looked at the empty space on the log beside him. He sighed, and patiently waited for Chris to appear.

Even from the opposite end of the log, Sky could hear him sigh, and she leaned backwards to see how he was doing. Mike noticed her, and looked away. The athlete frowned and buried her face in her arms and knees, after suddenly realizing how tired she was. She tried to not think about keeping the secret that Mike has a crush on Zoey, or about Dave possibly liking her. She just focused on the competition.

Max looked around. "Where is that annoying host?" He received yawns for answers.

After a couple more minutes of waiting, Mike stood up. "I'm going to find the girls."

"Want me to come with you?" Shawn asked eagerly. Mike was about to refuse, until the three girls showed up with scratches on their arms, and bags full of cool-colored berries.

"Where were you?!" Amy shouted at the three girls, but mostly at Samey.

Samey sputtered for an answer, but Zoey spoke for her. "Sorry we were late."

Anne Maria rolled her eyes. "It's fine. You're not the only one," she remarked, referring to Chris.

Jasmine had decided to pass out berries to everyone, including those on the other team. Her only condition was that they didn't tell Chris what the girls did this morning.

"Mmm, these are delicious!" Sam said, popping raspberries into his mouth. "Thanks, girls."

Max looked at a blueberry in his hand, as he had never tried one before. He stuck it in his mouth, then spit it out while grabbing his chest. "E-Evil cannot handle the sour!" Scarlett took a handful of about seven blueberries and put them all in her mouth, swallowing them without the smallest twitch in her face.

"Last strawberry," Zoey told the others, looking at her bag full of blueberries. She turned to her right and looked at Mike. "I don't suppose you would want it?"

"Are you sure? You can have it if you want…"

"No, please. I insist."

Scott groaned as the two continued bickering over who should eat the strawberry. He swiped it from Zoey's hands and ate the entire fruit in one bite. After noticing his teammates' disgusted faces, he shrugged. "What? The leaves are edible!"

Dakota rubbed her eyes from sleep deprivation. Watching all the other's happy expressions while eating the fruit that the girls picked made her feel… weird, to say the least. She couldn't tell if she wanted to actually be closer to them, or if it was just her tired mind playing tricks on her.

They continued eating, until Ella heard the rustling of leaves and grass. "Chris is coming!" The three girls who picked the berries hid their empty bags in their pockets. Shawn had five rather large blackberries in his hands. He squeezed them, and poured the liquefied blackberries into his mouth. The other campers were disgusted, and Dave gagged.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Shawn:** "Sure, it's disgusting, but it's useful. I call it a To-Go Smoothie. When you've got zombies on your tail, you ain't got time to chew!"

* * *

Chris finally walked between the two logs with a remote and clipboard in hand. He turned to see the campers, and became suspicious once he laid eyes on Shawn.

"Did the zombies eat the skin off your hands, Shawn?"

He looked at his hands that were covered in blood-like juice and smiled at the host, hoping that he would lose interest. Thankfully he did, so he tried to talk to Zoey, Jasmine, and Samey.

"Girls, may I ask why you were not-"

*slurp*

The host turned around to see Shawn touching his juice-covered palms with the tip of his tongue.

Dave nudged Sky with his elbow. "Guess he was caught red-handed, huh?" Sky reacted with a passive noise that substituted for a laugh.

Chris, who still thought that Shawn's hands had blood on them, covered his mouth with both hands. His cheeks turned a sickly green. "You," he ordered with an ill voice. "Infirmary, now!"

Shawn got up to leave, but turned right back around to sit down once Chris continued talking to the girls.

"If I may continue, why were you three absent from breakfast this morning?"

Samey looked at Zoey with worrying eyes. Zoey did the same with Jasmine. But Jasmine wasn't afraid to answer. "I sleepwalked outside last night, and I walked into a thorn bush. Zoey and Samey were looking after me."

Amy furiously got onto her feet and pointed at the three. "Ugh! She's lying! They went out to pick berries this morning instead of eating breakfast!" The campers gasped at Amy's betrayal, although Jasmine was the only one to keep a serious face. "Here, I have the scratches on my arm to prove it." Chris examined her arms, and accepted her claim as true.

"What?!" Amy shrieked. "They gave us all berries a few minutes ago! And that monkey over there has juice on his hands, not blood!"

Samey was on the verge of tearing up. She had been used to this kind of behavior all her life, but to make her look bad in front of people who she considered to be her new friends? She was fed up with her sister. "Stop trying to make me look bad!"

"Like you need help, Lamey!"

"P-Please stop calling me that! I'm Samey!" After realizing what she had just said, Samey finally gave in and began to cry.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Samey:** (she has her face in her hands) "I can't believe it! I just admitted that my name is Samey! I'm giving Amy what she wants! Sometimes, I really question why God would create monsters as awful as Amy!"

* * *

"Hey, kitten," Scott said, holding Amy's arm back. "Let's focus on the challenge, alright?"

Amy didn't know what to do. "Uh, sure…"

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Scott:** "Yeah, even _I_ cringed when I called her kitten. I'm not forcing this too hard, am I?"

* * *

Soon enough, Amy settled down, and all the contestants patiently waited on their logs for Chris to turn on the TV. Once he did, two boxes appeared on the screen with pictures flying across them like a slot machine. On the first orange box, the pictures were of the remaining contestants (so, pretty much anybody but Topher). On the other pink box, only two images were there. A golden halo, and a cartoonish flame.

"So," began Chris. "Here's how Truth or Scare is going to work." He pressed a red button on the TV remote, and the left pictures stopped moving, leaving Cameron's face to be the only one shown. The buble boy grew worried about what was going to happen next. "If the randomizer lands on your face, then it's your turn to play," Chris said. He clicked the button again, letting the second spinner stop on a halo. "Halos mean truth, and flames mean scare."

Chef walked up to the table with a cardboard box of metal objects. "What are those for?" Mike asked.

"I'll get to that in a second, Mike. After the two randomizers pick their options, I will read the truth or the scare to the selected person. If they can answer their truth in less than twenty seconds, or if you complete your scare in the amount of time given, your team will receive a point." Chef reached into the box and set up two flipbooks with zeros on them in high school font. The numbers were color coded according to which team they represented. "First team to six points wins."

"But," Chris told them with a wicked voice. "If you take too long to participate, forfeit, or lie during a truth, your entire team will get a shock!"

Dave couldn't take his eyes off of Chef, who was taking the metal objects out of the cardboard boxes. Now, more interns with dark red shirts began following suit. Every metal object was snapped around a camper's neck. Dave's voice shook when he asked, "What do you mean by shock? Also… what are these weird metal collars Chef's putting on us?"

"You just answered your own question, Dave," Chris replied, watching as Chef and the other interns finished putting the metal collars around everyone's neck. "Allow me to demonstrate." There were two circular buttons on Chris's remote, both with yellow and black stripes on them. He pressed them both, and watched eagerly as the collars sent electric charges through their body. Even while watching the campers' spastic movements due to the electricity, he sustained a genuine smile followed by genuine laughter.

After about five seconds, the collars quit sending shocks, and the campers ended up leaning forward in pain, with their hair partly frizzed up.

Jasmine rubbed the back of her neck, or the parts of it she could get to, rather. "You tested these, right?" she asked Chris with frustration.

"Yup," he answered with a cocky smile. "Just did. And you're still alive. Congrats."

Sam's small glasses had fallen off of his face and caught mud when they hit the ground. Dakota, who had sat beside him, was texting before the shock. Even though the shock scared the life out of her, she returned to texting immediately with a twitching eye. Without looking away from her phone, she picked the rims of Sam's muddy glasses up with two vibrating fingers.

"Here," she said, trying not to touch the muddy parts of the glasses while handing them to Sam. "Take these."

Sam had no trouble using his shirt to clean the mud off. "Thanks, Dakota." But she was too caught up in texting to notice him. "Dakota? Dakota!"

She finally noticed his voice. "What did you want?"

"I just thanked you for picking up my glasses."

"Oh… y-yeah, you're welcome."

Sam looked at Shawn with sorrow as Dakota's eyes stayed glued to her phone with every word she spoke. Shawn simply shrugged, hoping that Dakota would come around eventually.

Scarlett raised her hand to ask a question. "You don't have to raise your hand, Scarlett," Chris advised. "This isn't school."

"Sorry," Scarlett apologized. "It's just something I'm used to. As for the question, how will you know if somebody is telling the truth or not? I don't see any lie detectors, and one would need to be a skilled psychologist to-"

"Actually, we don't have lie detectors or psychologists," the host interrupted. "But we do have… Clucky, the truth-seeking chicken!"

All faces became confused and turned to the brown chicken with a red comb slowly strutting towards Chris.

Dave fell backwards just like Lightning when he laid eyes on the chicken. "S-Salmonella! Get it away, get it away!"

"What?" was all Jo could say before she began sharing her thoughts. "How the hell can a chicken tell if you're telling the truth or not?"

"Her name is Clucky," Chris corrected, pretending to take offense to this. "And… I don't know. Her advertisement for her law firm on the internet says that her lie detection is not a hoax, so I took a gamble and rented her for the day."

Dawn reached out for Clucky with her finger with a curious face. Clucky reacted by pressing the button that shocks Team Maskwak.

"Love you too, Clucky," Dawn jeered, dropping her peaceful tone of voice.

"Now, let's begin!" Chris announced. "Since Team Maskwak lost yesterday's challenge, they will get to go first today!" The second column began spinning between halos and flames, but the first column stayed on Cameron's face. He squealed once the second spinner landed on a flame. "Cameron gets a scare!"

Cameron jumped behind the log and crouched down. Chris looked over the log at the boy while shaking his head. "Man up, would you?" He took his clipboard from the table and began to read the first scare on the list.

"Cameron. For this round, you will have to… name three of your least favorite foods."

The bubble boy stood up with relief. "That's it? Well, that's easy enough. I hate broccoli, pomegranates, and chicken soup."

"Okay, thank you, Cameron."

Cameron raised a fist in the air and shouted, "Yahoo! I won a point!" But Chef didn't change Team Maskwak's score just yet. "Wait, why didn't our score change? I did the scare!"

Chris snickered from behind his clipboard, as if it was a fan for women to laugh behind. "Oh, that wasn't your scare. Your scare… is to drink a smoothie of your three least favorite foods!"

The boy dropped to his knees. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

A female intern handed a clear cup of brown sludge to Chris, who set it on the ground in front of Cameron. "If you can drink all of this in less than thirty seconds, your team gets a point." Cameron took the cup and looked inside at the disgusting brown drink. He yelped when a bubble popped inside the cup.

Chris took a stopwatch from his pocket and clicked one of the buttons on the side. "Your thirty seconds begin… now!"

He wasted five seconds looking at the disgusting mixture in front of him. "Hurry up, you baby!" ordered Anne Maria. After writing a will in his head, he gasped and stuck his lips on the edges of the cup.

Max curled his fingers and held them in front of his face in disgust. "Ugh, how repulsive…"

Fifteen seconds had gone by, and Cameron was halfway finished with his smoothie. Dawn held his nose to help with the disgusting taste.

"I-I don't feel so good," Cameron gagged between sips.

Sam tapped Dakota on the shoulder. "Excuse me," he requested, as she leaned back to give Sam room to whisper in Cameron's ear. "It's a delicious tropical fruit smoothie…" Cameron didn't respond, but he did receive the message as he began drinking faster.

"Five, four," Chris started to count down. "Three… two…"

Cameron threw the cup on the ground and leaned forward with a green face. Team Maskwak all congratulated Cameron by cheering and patting him on the back.

"Congratulations, Team Maskwak. You get the first point of the challenge!" announced Chris. Chef was about to flip the "zero" card on the flipbook, until the cup caught his eye.

"Wait a minute," he said to himself as he picked up the cup and looked at its contents. "There's still some left in here!" Everyone gasped as Chef tilted the cup towards Team Maskwak, showing everyone how much of the disgusting smoothie was left. There was enough left to fill a plastic medicine cup.

Cameron began coughing as he got back up. "S-Sorry, guys… I really thought I could finish it, but…"

"Hey, don't be ashamed. You did good," Sam told the bubble boy, which made him smile.

"I think so, too," agreed Chris. His strange complimentary attitude mixed with his abnormally authentic smile foretold nothing but disaster for the campers. "But, no matter! Cameron failed to complete the challenge, so you know what that means!"

Team Maskwak knew good and well what that meant.

Chris took the remote from the desk and let his thumb hover over Team Maskwak's button. "I know, it's a very shocking turn of events." Before everyone had time to process the joke, Chris pressed the button and let Team Maskwak get shocked for five seconds. Once she saw Cameron's face of complete disbelief, Jo found it hard to hold back her laughter.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Jo:** "I'm not laughing because I enjoy seeing the other team getting electrocuted! I'm not Chris-level psycho. Just the looks on their faces once they found out that Cameron didn't finish his…" (she starts howling with laughter)

* * *

The chattering of Sam's teeth was louder than his teammates' voices. After the shocks stopped, most of Team Maskwak started shouting angry threats at both Cameron and Chris. Cameron held his head down, as Chris kept standing in place while wearing an idiotic smile. Once he noticed Cameron's sorrow, Sam cleared his throat and told everyone to be quiet.

Jo let out a small hum of laughter, which she quickly and wittingly masked with loud, fake coughing fits.

Chris confusingly said, "Um… okay? Team Kinosewak will be going next."

The faces on the first spinner changed from Team Maskwak members to those on Team Kinosewak. They all anxiously waited for the random outcome, hoping that the spinner didn't land on their face.

"Amy, doing a truth!"

Samey wasn't sure whether to gasp or celebrate, to get to see her rude sister be humiliated on live TV. The cheerleader turned up her nose and shook her hand. "No, no, I'll pass."

Sky leaned forward. "At least hear the truth before quitting," she advised. "Besides, you haven't done anything productive ever since you set foot on this island. Do you want to be known as a quitter?"

"On _international television?_ " Samey added, slyly grinning. She tried to prevent her teeth from showing, or else Amy would notice that she's enjoying this and get mad at her.

"Ugh, fine," Amy surrendered. "Give me the freaking dare."

Chris looked at his clipboard and dragged his finger across his papers, looking for the right truth. "Something you guys should know," he said while looking. "Chef and I created questions specifically for each and every one of you."

Every eye around him widened. Just when they thought that playing truth or dare on a reality TV show was embarrassing enough, they now had to worry about a celebrity asking them personal questions! Scarlett held a finger to her upper lip and began rubbing it as she looked around. Brick started tugging on the top of his shirt. Mike was arguably the most nervous one out of the group. He was rubbing his forearm with his entire hand, not giving the smallest thought to the sunburn forming in that area, or the pain it created.

"Aha, there it is," Chris said, tapping Amy's question with delight. "Amy, who do you think is the most attractive boy on the island?"

Amy was quite surprised by this. She expected much worse; something that had nothing to do with simple high school-type questions. "Oh, is that it? I don't think any guy here is attractive." Chris eyeballed her with suspicion, and sent Clucky to sit on her lap.

"E-Ew…" was all she could say once Clucky stuck her beak in Amy's nose.

"Repeat that," Chris instructed. "Slowly."

"Um… I don't think any guy here is attractive. Get a hearing aid, gramps!"

"No, I didn't want you to repeat that for me. I wanted you to repeat it for Clucky."

Amy's eyes found their way back to Clucky, who was shaking with fury. She began making loud noises and jumped off of her lap, leaving a few feathers behind. The angry chicken got to the remote and pecked at Team Kinosewak's button, making them shake even more than Clucky did.

Team Maskwak all made eye contact after realizing what the shock meant. Amy lied.

Once Team Kinosewak caught their breath, Lightning was the first to speak. "Obviously, Amy's talking about me! I'm the most attractive man here, and she just doesn't want to admit it!" Amy gagged once she heard this, as if she were the one drinking a broccoli-pomegranate-chicken-soup smoothie.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Scott:** "So Amy really _does_ think someone here is attractive. I wonder if Amy really did fall into my trap. U-Unless I'm just being an idiot and she likes someone else, but… still! That's gotta mean something! (he thinks for a minute, then pulls out his knife) Here, let's see if this will work." (he carves "S+A" inside a heart into the confessional wall)

 **Amy:** "That chicken is the biggest liar I have ever seen! C'mon, would _you_ believe anything that a barnyard animal says? (she turns to see Scott's carving) Um… Shawn has a crush on Anne Maria?"

* * *

Chef leaned on the table, impatiently waiting to change the score for either team. He tried not to pick favorites, but he does often find himself wanting Team Maskwak to win in his head. He knows that they're the weaker team, and wants to see them be the underdog. Maybe… he could make a secret alliance with someone like he did with DJ and Blaineley in the two previous seasons?

Chris became even happier, as they finally got to the dramatic part of the game. "Care to explain, Amy?"

"Whoa," she protested. "You're not supposed to force the truth out of me! I choose whether or not to lie!"

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Scott:** (he swings his arm in front of him and snaps with a disappointed face)

* * *

"Fine, I'll back off," Chris settled, backing away from her. "Who am I to pry into someone else's secrets?"

If it was physically possible, steam would be fuming out of Amy's ears. "We wouldn't even be having this challenge if you didn't want to pry into other people's-!" Scott took her shoulders and sat her back down right beside him.

Chris didn't pay Amy any attention. "Round two! For Team Maskwak," he annotated while watching the screen. "Scarlett, with another truth!"

Scarlett pushed back her glasses with a stagnant face. Although on the inside, it was like her heart was going to burst open.

"Scarlett," Chris asked, after finding Scarlett's question on his paper. "What would you do with a million dollars?"

The redhead nerd agreeably let Clucky hop onto her lap. Even after a polygraph chicken examining her every facial expression, she remained still.

Team Maskwak wasn't sure what to expect, despite the fact that Scarlett was on their team and they should know her better than anyone else right now. Would she donate her money to charity? Or possibly save up for college?

After thinking it over, Scarlett finally stated her carefully-worded answer. "I would use the money to help aid my rise to power."

Chris leaned in. " _All_ of the money?"

Scarlett also leaned in and grinned confidently. "All of it." Everyone shuddered at how open Scarlett was with her answer; even Clucky! She seemed to shrug as she walked away from Scarlett and stopped by Chris's feet.

"Doesn't look like Clucky's going for the remote this time," Chris observed as Chef's ears perked up. "That means that Scarlett told the truth, and Team Maskwak gets a point!" Scarlett gave Max a high-five as Chef changed the score to 1-0.

Chris was happy, but bored nonetheless. "Let's hope that Team Kinosewak has something more entertaining to offer." Scarlett rolled her eyes, but she was secretly glad that her answer sufficed.

For Team Kinosewak, the spinners chose a scare for Lightning.

"A scare?" he asked, with fists clenched in excitement. "Alright, baby! Bring it on, Lightning's not afraid!"

Chris looked at his clipboard, and then burst out laughing. "Y-You… you have to… PAHAHAHA!"

"What? I have to what?"

"You have to…" Chris wiped away a tear before finishing his sentence. "You have to lick a person next to you!"

Lightning's eye winced as he looked at the two people beside him: Sky and Jo. They were both disgusted, but Sky was the only one to scoot away from Lightning. That left…

"I'm glad I'm sitting next to you," Lightning told Jo. "Because I would feel really weird having to lick a girl."

Jo held up shaky hands. "W-Wait, I _am_ a girl!"

"Nice try," the football player said. In an instant, he moved closer to Jo and gave her a slobbery dog kiss. "But Lightning's not losing today!" They both jumped up, but Lightning did it to celebrate. Jo… had other reasons.

"Sha-victory is mine!"

He was immediately slapped in the face by an angry jockette. And then, she opened her mouth to give Lightning a piece of her mind.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Chris:** "The following two minutes of Total Drama Revenge: Pahkitew Island have been cut from the episode due to excessive profanity and violence. Although I cannot show you the clips, just know that it… was… totally awesome! Ha ha!"

* * *

"…so you had better learn some manners, you disgusting beefcake!" Jo sat down with her arms crossed. She didn't even care that all eyes were watching her. Ella had closed her ears during the profane rant, and Shawn was somewhat intrigued by it, just to see how angry Jo could get.

Lightning was still standing, and he was on the verge of crying.

"Hey, big guy," Chris consoled, putting a hand on Lightning's back while patting his arm with the other one. "Jo's just a meanie, isn't she?" Lightning sniffed as an answer. "You want me to get you a protein bar? Would that make you feel better?"

He sat down while avoiding eye contact with Jo. "B-Bring it here," he requested. Chef changed the score before leaving to get a protein bar when Chris commanded.

"The score is now one to one, and we'll now begin round three," said Chris, hoping that the challenge would take their minds off of… well, Jo in general. "Let's see who will be going for Team Maskwak."

Shawn was in the middle of adjusting his toque when he saw that the spinner landed on his face. Once the second spinner landed on another flame, his mouth and arms all dropped. He turned to the only person beside him, Sam, and shook his head feverishly to Chris. "No, no, don't make me lick him!"

"Relax, zombie boy. There are worse scares on this list." Shawn gulped and pushed a strand of hair that had fallen in front of his eye back under his toque.

Chris looked at his clipboard on the table and rubbed his hands together with glee. "I've been waiting for this one. Shawn, your scare is… to eat five Wildfire boneless hot wings in less than a hundred seconds!"

"W-Wildfire…?!" was all Shawn could say.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Chris:** "To all those uncultured hot wing haters out there, Wildfire is the hottest flavor of wings at the Wing It Diner! (he holds up a small poster of the restaurant logo) Wing It Diner. So tasty, even the chickens agreed to die for them!"

Shawn: (bangs on the confessional from outside) "Hey, Chris! Are you done yet? I wanna vent!"

Chris: "The producers allowed me to have this episode without commercial breaks only if I did the advertising myself, so you can wait three seconds! (he looks at the camera and holds up his poster again) Kids eat free on Tuesdays!"

 **Shawn:** (he looks out the confessional door) "I-Is he gone? (he closes the door) Good. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

* * *

Chef set a small cardboard orange takeout box on Shawn's lap. Inside were five black chicken wings with red specks. Shawn put his hand over the wings to feel their heat, and it felt no different than the campfire last night.

Clucky didn't seem too happy about this challenge.

Chris knelt down in front of Shawn as Chef tied a large white bib around his neck. "Here's a quick fun fact," Chris told the boy. "These things can burn through a piece of paper!"

Even the aroma of the wings was too much for Shawn to handle. "Wh-What about my tongue? Can it burn through somebody's tongue?" The host shrugged and backed away, making Shawn groan.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Shawn:** "Alright, I'm known for doing some… questionable things. Dumpster diving, going five days without eating or sleeping, willingly drinking orange juice and toothpaste... and the list goes on and on. You get the idea. But spicy foods are one thing that I can't handle! Stupid genes… but I'm not going to chicken out now! If I wasn't a risk taker, I probably wouldn't have a brain right now!"

* * *

All while holding his reddening nose, Shawn pinched one of the chicken wings to pick it up as if his challenge was to resemble a crane game at an arcade. "Yeowch!" he shrieked, dropping it back into the box due to the heat. He wanted to stick his fingers in his mouth to help cool them down, but stopped himself after reminding himself that the sauce was now on his fingers.

"Your one hundred seconds start… now!"

Shawn reassured himself that he wasn't going to give up before picking the chicken wing back up. The skin was rough to the touch and crackled with crispy delight. He took a deep breath and stuck the entire thing in his mouth. Not too long after, his face turned the color of a tomato.

"GAAAAH…" he screamed, reaching for the next wing.

Sam started chanting, "Shawn! Shawn! Shawn!" as he tried to get the rest of his team to do so.

Shawn groaned as the scorching heat of the hot wings forced him to breathe through his mouth. "J-Just three more…" he told himself as a trembling hand picked up the third wing. After struggling to swallow it, he spat saliva onto the ground.

"Thirty seconds," Chris announced, looking at his stopwatch.

"S-Seriously?" Shawn whined with the fourth chicken wing in his mouth. Tears were uncontrollably spilling down his face, as were two rivers of snot from his nose.

Jasmine looked at the boy. She put a hand on the right side of her face to look like she was bored. But she did this to hide her mouth from the rest of her team; thankfully, she was on the far end. "Shawn," she whispered. "You've got this!"

Shawn managed to open his squinted eyes to reveal bloodshot ones. He didn't reply, as his determined stare answered for him. He continued to chew, hoping that he would be able to force the wing down his throat.

"Ten seconds!" Chris exclaimed, fully in suspense. Shawn swallowed the fourth wing, and looked at his last wing as if it was the clichéd shutdown button that needs to be pressed in a short amount of time. He let out a roar of a beast, and chomped away at the last wing. Ella, Cameron, and even Anne Maria looked away at the disgusting sight.

"Eight, seven, six…"

"DONE!" Shawn presented his blackened tongue to the group with outstretched arms of victory. Everybody, even Team Kinosewak, cheered for the boy for his brave act.

Chef nodded as he changed Team Maskwak's score from 1 to 2. They gave each other thumbs-ups, suggesting that Chef was over the zombie supplies incident. At least, that's what Shawn had hoped.

"Congrats, Shawn!" Chris congratulated. "Team Maskwak is now in the lead! Also, nice callback to our Chinese Fake-Out challenge from Season 3!"

Ella gasped and cleared her throat. "A little Chinese lesson, for you…" she sang.

"Manman chi means 'enjoy your meal…'" The songbird got Max, Dawn, Sam, Cameron, Samey, Zoey, Mike, and Dave to sing along.

"Zip it!" an angry Chris ordered. He rubbed the skin between his eyes and whispered to himself, "I really hope that she doesn't get _that one scare_."

Shawn leaned over and spat out more saliva. "I think I'm nearly done for…" he cried, not knowing that he made another reference to the same episode of World Tour. Chris chuckled to this, and Shawn responded by breathing out a small flame like a dragon.

Chris turned to the TV and clicked the button that restarted the two spinners. "Let's see who will be going for Team Kinosewak!" The first slot paused on Scott's face.

"You had better give me a scare, McLean," threatened Scott. Chris's grin was as smug as it could be when the second slot landed on a halo. "Truth!"

"Dammit."

Chris looked at his clipboard, and snickered like a child.

"Spit it out, old man!"

"Oh, this is a good one. Scott… out of everyone here, who do you have a crush on?" Scott's face turned into the perfect blend of anger and nervousness.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Scott:** "Ugh! (stabs his knife into the carving he drew earlier) This was exactly what I was afraid of! I can't say Amy, because Clucky will know that I'm lying! But if I tell the truth and say nobody, then that could ruin my plan too! If my plan's gonna work, I need Amy to keep thinking that I like her! So… my only option is…"

* * *

He yawned as he extravagantly stretched his arms to the sky. Amy became furious when she noticed that he had closed his eyes. It was like he didn't even notice that a chicken was on his lap.

"Hey, cotton picker," she yelled to his face. "Are you going to answer or not? You are _so_ dead meat if we get shocked because of you!"

Scott cocked his eyebrow at Amy, but closed his eyes right after he did. "Oh, is it my turn? Sorry, I'm having trouble focusing. The sun is just too comfortable on the skin, don't you think?"

Chris pretended to tap a watch on his wrist. "Um, Scott? You've got five seconds to answer!"

He didn't move a muscle.

"Scott," Sky tried to tell him. "If you don't like anyone, you can just tell him."

Clucky was bored of watching Scott's conceited face and strutted right back to Chris's legs. Thankfully, she got away just in time for Team Kinosewak to get shocked.

Amy growled once she saw the complete lack of guilt on Scott's face. "You...!" The farm boy merely shrugged, although he twitched from the shock as he did so.

Chris scratched his head, wondering what Scott was trying to achieve from pleading the fifth. "Oh well. I guess we'll just move on to the fourth round now. Scott," he addressed, turning to the boy. "You'd be better off participating next time if you're chosen again. Otherwise, if you lose…"

Scott didn't need Chris to finish his sentence. He knew exactly what the host was trying to say. "Leave me alone. I just don't feel comfortable sharing my secrets with anyone here," he lied, pretending to sound fragile. Chris ended the conversation there and turned to the TV and observed the two spinning slots.

"Team Maskwak's representative for round four… is Anne Maria, with a scare!"

The Jersey girl leaned back in horror, then shook her head. "Uh-uh. No way I'm doing one of those lame-o scares!"

Chris eyed his clipboard. "You sure about that? This one's pretty easy."

"R-Really? You're not just saying that to get me to do the scare or anything?"

"Besides," Scarlett started with an unamused expression. "You didn't do anything yesterday. I do hope that you'll be like Amy and at least attempt to do something today."

"Ugh, fine. Calm down, book sniffer." Anne Maria grabbed a can of hairspray from her poof and applied away. She had received her cans back from Chef yesterday after they ate dinner, and he received several "thank you's" in the form of angry sprays to the face.

As Chris prepared to tell Anne Maria the scare, she got comfortable by crossing her legs and leaning backwards, all while continuing to spray. "Anne Maria, your scare is to… take the Ice Bucket Challenge with your clothes on!"

"Th-The Ice Bucket Challenge?!"

Two interns appeared with a large metal basin filled with water, and they were obviously struggling to carry it while keeping all the icy water inside. Chef took the basin with one finger and spun it around like a basketball player would a basketball.

"Thank you, Chef," Chris said with a peppy tone.

Anne Maria shook her hands. "No, no wait! This'll make my makeup run!" She tried to run away, but she was held back by the two interns who brought the basin of ice water.

Chef held the basin high above his head, and with a devilish smirk, he tipped it over onto Anne Maria. The Jersey girl screamed at a pitch high enough to rival Ella's singing.

"You people are sick," she shouted as she tried to pull her arms away from the interns. "Let go of me!" She growled like a dog, and then did the unexpected.

She tilted her head side to side, knocking the interns in the head with her solidified poof. They fell to the ground, and landed in the cold mud puddles below them. They were literally knocked out cold.

Huffing and puffing, she turned around to face Chef. Her makeup was definitely running in streams down her face, but she didn't care. "You're next," she threatened, creeping towards him with sweet revenge in her eyes. Chef dropped his basin and ran towards the forest. Anne Maria saw this as her chance, and chased him with the basin.

None of the campers could see what had happened, but they could hear every detail.

*CLAAAANG*

"That's for my makeup!"

*CLAAAANG*

"That's for my clothes!"

*CLAAAAAAAANG*

"And _that's_ for trying to touch my poof yesterday!"

"Oww… girl, you're asking for it!"

"Who gives a crap?!"

Everyone tensed with every metallic sound that they heard. "Ooh, that had to have hurt," Mike said to Zoey.

"Is it bad that I'm kind of enjoying this?" Zoey asked, feeling a bit guilty herself. They both laughed together.

A couple minutes later, Anne Maria and Chef returned to the cleared area with bruises and cold, damp clothes. Anne Maria noticed everyone looking at her with blank faces.

"H-He started it," she exonerated while pointing at Chef. He just rolled his eyes as he went to change the score.

Chris was so caught up in the fight that he lost sight of what he was doing. "O-Oh yeah, Team Maskwak gets a point. Maskwak has 3, and Kinosewak has 1. It's still anyone's game."

The host turned back to the screen to continue the challenge. "It looks like… Amy again, with a scare!"

The mean cheerleader slammed a fist to the log, and was poised to start having a temper tantrum.

…and then a fly flew away from Samey's face on the TV.

"Oh," Chris exclaimed, examining the TV screen. "This one doesn't have a mole. I guess it's actually Samey's turn, then!"

Samey opened her mouth in shock. "Wh-What?! I have to do a scare?"

"Ha-ha! In your face!" Amy jeered at her sister, standing up to point at her. "I bet you're the one who attracted that fly in the first place!" Scott made sure to snicker at this, which made Amy sit down with a calmer attitude.

"I know, right?" she whispered to Scott. "Can you believe that I have to spend my entire life with her?"

Scott became elated that he received an opportunity to talk to Amy out of nowhere. "Can't even imagine. She doesn't deserve a chick like you."

"Th-Thanks…" Scott noticed her blushing, and he clenched his fist with a smile, as a sort of secret celebration.

Samey could hear all of this, and tried to hold back tears. All she could do was bite her lip until Chris told her what the scare was.

After a couple suspenseful and unnecessary seconds of waiting, Chris finally decided to speak up. "Samey, to win a point for Team Kinosewak, you will have to… kiss a person next to you!"

Samey's eyes widened. To her left… Jasmine. To her right… Zoey.

"O-On the lips…?" Samey asked with a shaky voice.

"Yes," Chris answered bluntly.

At this point, all three girls were completely startled. The cheerleader had to rub her temples to think. "I-I'm not like that! I can't kiss a girl on the lips!"

Jasmine put a hand on Samey's shoulder. "Listen, Samey. I'm not forcing you to do anything, but if you do decide to go through with the scare, the kiss won't mean anything. Right, Zoey?"

"Right," agreed the indie girl. "It'll just be a platonic kiss, you know?"

"B-But still…"

Chris looked at his stopwatch. "You have ten seconds, Samey."

Amy stood up again to mock her sister. "Chicken, chicken, bawk ba-bawk ba-bawk bawk!" she teased to the tune of nana-nana-boo-boo.

"Shut up, Amy!" screamed Samey. She covered her mouth as soon as she spoke, and instantly regretted speaking.

At the same time, Lightning and Jo said, "Hurry up!" They shared fierce stares after speaking, however.

Samey was sweating bullets. Her sister was going to make fun of her no matter what she does… and now that she thought about it, so will the rest of the world.

"Five, four," Chris began counting down. Zoey and Jasmine both looked at each other with worrying faces. "Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh…" Samey told herself as she thought about what to do.

"I… I… I can't do it!" Samey cried as she began to feel smaller and smaller by the minute. Amy was just about to taunt her sister, but Team Kinosewak's fourth shock of the day interrupted her from doing so.

After the shock ended, they leaned forward and savored every moment away from the intense electric punishments. Any hateful face that was in the group was aimed towards Samey.

Jasmine grabbed the cheerleader's shoulders to defend her. "That's quite enough, everyone."

"Thanks, Jasmine," Samey said during a sigh. Thankfully, everyone eventually turned their attention back to the game and forgot about what Samey did, or rather, what she didn't do.

Chris restarted the spinners. "Now, let's begin round five! You guys had better get going, or else we'll be here all day. For Team Maskwak… we a truth for Max!"

Seeing Clucky just walk towards him was all it took to make Max jump back. "D-Dah! Get away from me, you pesky animal!"

"Max," Chris began, and then found himself slipping into laughter after seeing the boy getting scared. "Ah, sorry. What is… your biggest fear?"

Max was completely confident in his answer. "Easy. I fear noth-"

Scarlett put a hand on his arm and shook her head. "Don't lie, Max."

"I am telling the truth! I fear nothing!"

The redhead's eyes slowly aimed at Clucky, who was inspecting every part of Max's face. Max began thinking of an excuse to make up to see if he could fool the chicken. "Ehh… um, is it hot in here?"

"We're outside, Max."

"O-Oh, yes, um…"

But he didn't have time to think of another excuse. Clucky squawked and began slowly strutting towards Max with a questionable look in her eyes.

"G-Get away from me, foul beast! I said get away!" Clucky ended up chasing Max around the two logs. Chris was on his knees and was banging the ground with howling laughter. Everyone else was laughing too, but nobody could laugh as loud or as hard as Chris was at that moment.

Clucky continued to chase Max in circles. That is, until she stopped at the table where the TV was. She kicked the side of it with her foot to make the remote fall to the ground. Max's bright purple hair bounced violently like a spring as he shook his head fast enough to make him dizzy.

"No, no, please no! Evil commands you to not press that button!"

Clucky mocked what he said in chicken language. And then, she stomped on the button to shock Team Maskwak once again.

"Liar, liar, Max is on fire!" Chris announced in a sing-songy voice. "And by 'on fire'… I mean electrocuted."

Lightning couldn't restrain himself from chuckling at Max. His hair was springier than ever.

"What? What is it, fool?!" Max asked with anger, as his hair bounced even more. Lightning almost fell off the log again as he threw his head backwards in uncontrollable laughter. "He looks like an umbrella! Ahahaha!" Max growled at the boy and wanted to give him a taste of his evil, but the shocks today took away most of his energy, so he remained seated on the log.

Jo crossed her legs as she looked at her teammates. "The score is still three to one, people. I, for one, don't want to be deemed as losers today." This didn't offend anyone, but it definitely got their attention, so she continued her speech.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but so far, the only helpful person on our team is… ugh… _Lightning_."

Lightning jumped up with his fists eagerly clenched. "You really mean it, Jo?"

"Yeah. Savor this praise; you may not hear it again for a long time."

"I sure will," Lightning stated, obviously not hearing the shade in Jo's sentence. He stood up to pose and cried out, "Sha-Lightning!"

Jo looked at him with a disturbed face as he began to flex his muscles. "Uh… while _that's_ going on, I need to say this. No matter who gets picked this round, and no matter what the truth or scare is… you had better complete it! Got it?"

Everyone nodded in agreement; in Brick's case, he saluted.

"Team… Kinosewak," Chris addressed with dissatisfaction. "One point? Really?"

Jo stood up quite quickly and pointed a stern finger at Chris. "Just hurry it up, McLean!"

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Jo:** "Ooh… something about that host's personality _really_ rubs me the wrong way!"

* * *

Chris hit the button on his remote to start the slots once again. "Looks like it's Truthville for Brick!"

"T-Truth…?" Brick was completely caught unaware when Chris showed Brick the back of his clipboard. Jo shot the cadet a fierce look.

"Do it," she bluntly ordered. Brick saluted to this with a slow, shaky arm. "S-Sir, yes sir," he squeaked.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Brick:** "Why did it have to be a truth?! (he leans forward and sighs) I'm okay with anything they ask, as long as it doesn't involve-"

* * *

"Brick, your question is… when was the last time you wet your pants?"

He felt like he was just shot in the chest with a bullet crafted from ice.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Brick:** (he sighs) "…As long as it doesn't involve _th-that_ …"

* * *

As Clucky approached the cadet, he screamed and held up his arms to block his face. "I-It's like she's staring into my soul," Brick stammered.

"Brick," Jo said. "You had better tell the truth, got it?"

She noticed that he didn't salute, or say "Sir, yes sir."

"I said, _got it_?!"

Brick clenched his teeth and shut his eyes, hoping to see if he could see anything darker than black in the shapeless void in front of him.

"SAY IT!" Jo commanded with a small strain in her voice.

After a couple seconds of trying to find his courage, he somewhat swallowed his pride and was prepared to answer. "Okay, fine. It was… i-it was…"

Chris leaned in, expecting an embarrassing answer.

"…L-Last week…"

Mike's mouth hung open. "W-Whoa, Brick! You're a pants-wetter?" He was bombarded with crude laughs around him, even from those on his own team. Even Jasmine couldn't help but snicker, and Clucky made squawks that resembled a hearty chuckle.

Zoey, however, was the only person on her team to not find this funny. "Sorry, Brick. I know how hard that must have been." The cadet didn't answer. He just looked down with a shameful face.

Chef and Chris both chortled at Brick's answer as the latter changed the score from three to two. "Team Maskwak is in the lead," Chris managed to say while laughing.

"Alright," celebrated Sam as he fist-bumped with Shawn. "Let's keep our lead, everyone! Who's going next, Chris?"

Chris held up a finger. "Actually, I feel like now's a good time to cut the episode to a commercial break." Everyone wore relieved faces after hearing this.

"Will Team Maskwak keep their lead? What new secrets will be revealed? Man, it feels good to do this without Topher riding my back. Find out in just a few, on Total… Drama… Revenge… Pahkitew Island!"

* * *

~xxx~

~xxx~

~xxx~

 _Alright, that's the first half of A Shock and a Hard Place! I should get Part 2 up in about 2-3 weeks._

 _I know that this chapter may not have had enough drama for Total Drama, but remember that this is only Part 1. I have some dramatic plotlines that should pop up in Part 2. Hehehe..._

 _Once again, let me know if you find any errors, whether it be grammatical or regarding the story. Praise and criticism are much appreciated._

 _Pencil-Lead-Guy Recommendation #2:_ _I See Fire by Ed Sheeran_

 _That's all for now! Stay fresh, and I'll see you all next time._


	5. Chapter 3B: A Shock and a Hard Place

**Disclaimer: I do not own Total Drama, its characters, or anything else related to the series.**

 **Warning: This chapter of Total Drama Revenge: Pahkitew Island contains scenes of extreme stunts performed by fictional teenagers. Do not try any of what you read here at home. Seriously, you could get really messed up. Mild cursing.**

* * *

~Author's Note~

 _I recently came down with a nasty cold. Because of this, I'll be taking a short break before planning/writing Chapter 4._

 _Nothing else to say here except each chapter should be published about every three weeks. Two weeks at least, and a month at most. Just a heads up for future reference. Hopefully I can speed up my writing soon, but that's pretty doubtful. For now, enjoy A Shock and a Hard Place: Part 2._

* * *

~Replying to Reviews~

 **Fear The Darkness Inside** \- Yes indeed!

 **ThorBringsTheThunder** \- Thank you very much, and I'm also excited to reveal these plotlines.

 **AnonBrowser** \- Yes, I do feel like splitting the chapters will be very helpful. Don't worry; you'll see some more Shasmine and Samkota in the near future. Also, about the plotline with Scott and Amy… I can't reveal too much but I am a bit nervous to continue this plotline as it is a tad farfetched. You'll see what I mean.

 **ShadowJcreed** \- Even without Rodney, there will be people who will cost their team the challenge. And I think it's interesting how you're the only one who not only thinks that Amy is falling for Scott, but Scott for Amy as well! I'm not confirming anything, but I do hope you enjoy what I come up with.

 **GlitchWarrior** \- "Total Drama: the only thing in the universe that is better Sugar-free." Yep, those were the five people that I've cut from this story. I can't stand Staci, Leonard, Rodney, or Sugar… and although I like Beardo, he contributed little to nothing to Total Drama, so, in the words of Lightning, he had to say "sha-bye bye."

* * *

Okay, now let's continue the challenge!

~xxx~

~xxx~

~xxx~

Everyone was glad that this episode didn't have a commercial break. If it did, then they wouldn't have an actual break from the challenge. Chris had given them all five minutes to rest and chat amongst themselves before resuming the challenge.

Shawn used his sleeve to wipe sweat off of his entire face.

"Do the hot wings still hurt?" Cameron asked the zombie survivalist. He answered by coughing up smoke. The bubble boy continued, "That was really impressive, though. You're awesome, Shawn!"

"Hey, you're pretty awesome too."

Cameron looked at the ground where some of his smoothie had spilled. "M-Me? No… I'm nothing special."

"Don't say that," Shawn consoled. "Who cares if you finished the entire drink or not? Just the fact that you attempted to do it shows a lot about yourself, Cameron." The others who were in on the conversation (Sam, B, Dawn, and Ella) nodded to Sam's statement.

"You should be proud of yourself, Cameron," Dawn told the boy, who smiled back at her.

While Cameron was being complimented, Max and Scarlett were holding a conversation by themselves.

"There is something that I have wanted to ask you ever since you brought it up," Max told the girl. "It's about your plan to rise in power."

"…Do we have to talk about this?" Scarlett asked, clearly uninterested.

"Of course we must! This is a very serious topic, don't cha know!"

Normally, Scarlett would ignore his plea as it was only used to try to get her to talk. But she couldn't ignore the fact that Max called the topic "serious."

Max became more and more pleased as he saw Scarlett's attention increasing. "Alright. I'll play along. Tell me what's on your mind," she said.

"Excellent," Max said, grinning. "Clearly you have smarts, as well as a longing for power. How would you like to become my sidekick?"

"Your… sidekick?"

"Yes," the boy answered, tapping his fingers together to show that he was serious. But those finger taps became less frequent once he saw Scarlett's face, deplete of any agreement.

"What's wrong?" His eyes widened and he became embarrassed for some bizarre reason. "O-Oh… you want to become powerful for _good_ purposes, don't you?"

Scarlett shrugged. "Power is power."

And then something clicked inside of Max. "Th-That's it! With a mindset like that, you must become my sidekick this instant!"

"St-Stop pulling on my sweater, Max." He let go of her sleeve with an embarrassed giggle. "With you as my sidekick, you can help my rise to power, and when I'm at the top, I can just pull you up with me! So, what do you say?"

After one long eye roll, Scarlett finally answered, "Sure. I'll be your sidekick." They exchanged a handshake with grips quite firm.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Scarlett:** "Of course I'm not actually agreeing to become his sidekick. It's just about the million, not the power."

 **Max:** "Of _course_ I'm not going to bring her up to the top with me! It's only about the power. (looks to the camera) Can't you just taste the victory now? NO! Of course not, you idiotic lousy couch potatoes! You cannot taste the victory because it is all _mine_. All mine!"

* * *

Dakota was standing behind her team, where the trees seemed to form a sort of border. With Sam in a conversation with someone else, the only thing she could do was scroll through photos on social media. She tried to take a cute selfie by holding up a peace sign, but she sighed as she looked at the picture. Something just felt… off.

Her sigh caught someone's attention, and they walked over to speak with her.

"Hey… it's Dakota, right?"

The person was Anne Maria, and although it was obvious that she didn't want to speak up like this, she tried her best to seem sympathetic.

"Um, yeah." The model returned to her phone immediately after saying this.

"Hey," Anne Maria said again, with more force this time. "Is something bothering you?"

Dakota erased the selfie she took of herself. "Only you."

The Jersey girl was poised to walk away. "Fine. I was genuinely worried about you for once, so if you're gonna have that attitude, then I guess I got up from that log for nothing!"

"Wait, Anne Maria…"

She turned around with pure disinterest.

"Actually… I really need to say something. Would you wanna listen or… whatever?"

Anne Maria grabbed a can of hairspray and like usual, began applying it to her hair. "Sure, fine. Make like this can of hairspray and let it _all_ out." Without thinking, Anne Maria had pointed the can towards Dakota's face and sprayed it right into her mouth.

Sam could hear Dakota's slight shriek and turned around. Anne Maria apologized and began laughing as Dakota used a leaf to try to wipe the hairspray off her tongue. "Hehe, it's nice to see Dakota making new friends," Sam told the others.

"You sure do sound interested," Shawn pointed out with a brotherly smirk. Sam thought he could feel a bead of sweat forming on the side of his head, but definitely not from the heat.

"Ooh," Ella squealed. "Do I sense a new romance blossoming?"

"N-Not really… I don't know."

Dawn, Ella and Cameron all made an "aww" noise. To Sam's surprise, B even wiped a tear from his eye.

Thankfully, Sam was able to change the subject from his crush (if he can even call it that) on Dakota to a racing game that recently became popular with teens.

* * *

"Are you nervous for the next few rounds, Zoey?" Mike asked, hoping to break silence.

Zoey shrugged. "I don't know. Who knows what Chris has in store for us? How about you?"

"A-Ah, yeah… I feel the same way. Ahh… this metal collar is killing my neck!"

The boy expected another minute or so of silence and decided to use that minute to think of another topic of discussion; that is, until Zoey piped up.

"You know, if you get a scare for one of the rounds, you can just pretend to be that Svetlana girl again!"

To Mike, it felt like Zoey had just stabbed him in the chest. "Wh-Who told you about that?"

"Jasmine mentioned it while we were out picking berries… I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to spring it on you like that!"

"No, no, don't be sorry. But… why do you say that?"

"Don't know, I just thought that… well, if Svetlana was brave enough to jump off that cliff into shark-infested waters, then she should be able to do any of these scares. Don't you think so?"

"Yeah…"

Mike couldn't help it. His eyes kept finding their way back to Zoey's smile. Her innocent smile. So, so innocent. So innocent that it hurt, knowing how badly her statement scared him.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Zoey:** "Okay, yeah… I find it a bit awkward that Mike pretends to be a girl, let alone a Russian Olympic gymnast! But I'm sure that he's just doing it to get a giggle out of me. Besides, nobody's perfect. He's still a great person either way."

 **Mike:** "So… the only personality that's taken control so far is Svetlana… I already told Jasmine about my other personalities, but if I'm lucky, she might've just forgotten about them. She thought they were a joke, anyways. (he laughs nervously to calm himself down) But now that I think about it, Svetlana's one of my most harmless personalities. She's charming, friendly, athletic… but that doesn't matter right now! What's important now is concealing my personalities! (he sighs) This is gonna be tough…"

* * *

"What's the matter, Sky? You've been staring off into space for a while now."

Sky turned to her right to see Dave. "Don't worry about it, Dave," she said with a sweet smile. Then, her eyes returned to the same spot on the tree where she had been staring at.

And then Dave grabbed her hand.

"Sky, if something's bothering you, you can tell me. You trust me, don't you?" Dave had hoped that this calmed her down, but Sky couldn't find the words. She was too flustered, and eyes seemed to shake with fear. "U-Um… I trust you. Do you trust me?"

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Sky:** "Dave… holding my hand? (she sighs) I guess it's official… Dave likes me."

 **Dave:** "Um, so... yeah, I might have screwed up things with Sky. Deep down inside of me, I knew it wouldn't work out… she was too embarrassed to say anything back there! But… there's something about Sky that I've never seen in a girl before! (he takes a deep breath) Okay, maybe it's time for things to slow down."

* * *

Dave immediately let go of Sky's hand, and rubbed his pant leg with the same hand. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that…" Sky raised an eyebrow to this.

Brick cleared his throat to give a small speech; just like this morning's speech, but he didn't intend for it to end in failure. "May I have your attention, everyone?"

"You're gonna make us do more pushups, ain't you?" Lightning asked as he rubbed his back. Apparently, Mike wasn't the only person who was injured when Lightning fell on top of him.

"I just wanted to say to do your best for these next few rounds. Team Maskwak may have the advantage, but we still have a chance to claim victory. So no matter what, we'll need to push ourselves to the limit. Now who's with me?" Team Kinosewak agreed amongst themselves, bringing a smile to the cadet's face.

And then there was Jo. "That's pretty much a nicer version of what I said earlier!" she scoffed.

"Do you want to win or not, Jo?"

"Ugh, fine." She gave him a thumbs-up as she said, "Sure thing, Captain Whiz." Brick growled at her for this.

"Sorry," she apologized, although she obviously didn't mean it.

Jasmine, Zoey, and Samey were huddled up on the far end of the log, and they were the only ones from their team to not pay attention to Brick's speech. Jasmine had her arm around Samey, and Zoey put a hand on the cheerleader's forearm in support.

"I'm such a failure," Samey wept. "Amy was right about me all along…"

Zoey tried to crack a smile as she said, "Samey, you're not a-"

"Don't." Samey held up her hand to stop Zoey from talking. "I know what you're going to say, Zoey. I've heard it all before. But… now Amy hates me more than ever, and now she's probably going to get me eliminated tonight!"

"Don't say that, Samey," Jasmine told her. "We're not going to lose this challenge." She whispered the rest in Samey's ear. "Besides, if anyone on Team Kinosewak's going home, it's Scott."

"Y-You really think so?"

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Jasmine:** "Of course I think so. At least Samey actually tried to complete her scare! And then there's Scott, who just up and forfeited that round. But even if we do lose tonight, Samey won't be going home. (she crosses her arms) Not if I have anything to say about it."

* * *

Zoey kept her hand on Samey's arm. "Samey, if you get picked again, just try your best. You know, like Brick said."

Samey was able to find faint hope in Zoey's words, as well as Jasmine's. "I guess you're right…"

"And hey," Jasmine began. "Don't worry about what may happen after the challenge, or what may happen tonight. Focus on the now… that should ease your nerves a bit, don't you think?" The cheerleader nodded and picked Zoey's hand off of her shoulder. "Thanks, you two. I feel… a little better."

During the break, Scott had somehow got his arm on Amy's shoulders in a side-hug. She didn't react to this until a couple minutes later.

"Okay, that's enough," she said, quickly pushing his arm off of her.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Scott:** "Amy's totally into me. If she wasn't, she would have attacked me as soon as my arm made contact with her shoulder! Everything's all going according to plan… and now, I'm started to get excited just thinking about who I can dupe next! But I'm not going to fake date anyone again; pretending to like Amy is bad enough. That's not to say that I don't enjoy her company, but… I'll keep her around until she becomes useless."

* * *

Chris clapped his hands, grabbing everyone's attention. "Okay, everybody! Break's over! Return to your seats for round six!" The host waited for everyone to put their conversations to a halt as they returned to their logs.

"Hey, where's Clucky?" Mike asked, although he knew he would be better off without that chicken eagle-eyeing them all.

Chris seemed offended, yet again. "Chickens are people too, you know! She's off on her break; she should be getting back anytime soon."

Not too long after, Clucky did reappear. She strutted back to her usual spot by Chris's feet, but she was wearing a small pair of sunglasses and had a dab of sun lotion smeared onto her beak.

"Real creative, Chris," jeered Anne Maria. Apparently Clucky saw this as a lie and gave Team Maskwak a shock. Once this had happened, Team Kinosewak snickered behind their hands as quietly as possible.

Chris had bent down to take Clucky's sunglasses off, as well as rub the sun lotion off of her beak. "There. _Now_ we can resume the challenge!" He set Clucky's sunglasses onto the table and restarted the two spinners at the same time.

"For Team Maskwak… Dakota will be doing a truth."

Dakota reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. "If you skip me, I can call Daddy and he might give you some money as a thank-you."

The sweat on Chris's brow shined in the sunlight as he thought this over. Despite the sweating, he was tempted to accept.

"Don't even think about it," Scarlett urged, pointing at him. Chris immediately understood her annoyance and silently began to laugh. "Heh… hehe… sorry, Dakota. No dice." He shrugged, but Dakota knew that if it hadn't been for Scarlett, she would have been skipped.

"Now, Dakota," Chris began, skimming through his list of truths. "What is the biggest lie you have ever told?"

Dakota's eyes didn't want to, but they slowly aimed towards Clucky, who was getting closer and closer to Dakota. "Ew ew ew ew ew ew…" Once Clucky sat down on Dakota's thighs, she tried to calm her down by petting her back. "N-Nice Clucky-Clucky…"

Clucky squawked at her with frustration.

"E-Ella… do your thing, and _hurry_!"

The songbird stood up and walked past Dawn and Cameron to be able to reach Clucky. Once she was in range, she gently stroked the chicken's back. "It's alright, Clucky. She's a friend to animals. She's vegan." The two girls winked to each other.

"Um," Chris interrupted. "Can we get the answer now?"

Dakota gulped and put a finger on her chin while she looked back and forth at her teammates.

"Ten seconds," Chris announced, holding his stopwatch. Dakota covered her face with her hands in embarrassment as she thought this over.

"O-Okay, fine, I'll say it. The biggest lie I ever told was… I actually weight 112 pounds!"

Chris grinned, as he thought that she told the truth. But Clucky noticed something strange… she ran over to the remote as Team Maskwak was shocked once again. Dakota screamed throughout the entire shock.

"What is _wrong_ with this chicken?! I told the truth; I weigh 112 pounds!"

Clucky held her foot over the remote that was now on the ground. "Fine… I actually weigh… 148 pounds…"

"Really?" Sam asked as he looked to Clucky for an answer. The chicken showed no signs of surprise or frustration; Dakota was telling the truth.

"Hey, don't sound surprised," Shawn playfully scolded Sam, while nudging him painfully on the arm. "That's not how to speak to a lady."

"No, I didn't mean it like that. I meant… I actually weigh 149 pounds. 148's not that bad."

Dakota leaned back, unsure of how to react to this. "Oh… cool?" She did end up laughing, but only after seeing Sam's goofy expression.

Chef, who had been leaning on the table the entire time, kept an unimpressed face ever since the break ended. It seemed like changing the score was the only thing that could cure his boredom. So he spent his time by observing the campers, to see who he could possibly create an alliance with.

"Next up, Team Kinosewak," Chris said with finger guns towards said team. A couple members of Team Maskwak groaned, as the finger guns reminded them of a certain someone who shall not be named, because they were doing everything in their power to try to forget about him.

Chris began the spinners and watched every face that zoomed across the screen. "Team Kinosewak has… Mike!"

Mike held his breath and crossed his fingers, hoping not to see a halo appear beside his picture.

"…doing a scare!"

For one of the only times in human history, seeing a flame appear next to someone caused relief. Mike looked at Zoey, who smiled supportively. "Okay, I'm ready. What's my scare?"

"Your scare is… you have to take an article of clothing off for the rest of the game!"

"W-Wait… what?"

Just like she did with Samey, Zoey put her hand on Mike's arm. "C-Can't you give Mike another scare? He's obviously not comfortable with this one."

"Sorry. Either he does it or he doesn't."

Mike began to untie his shoelaces after thinking. "Shoes count as an article of clothing, right?" Chris opened his mouth to answer, but then he was interrupted by Dakota.

"Actually, shoes are more like an accessory rather than an article of clothing." With reclaimed enthusiasm, Dakota attempted to continue. "Unless we're talking about…"

"Dakota!"

After listening to Chris, he turned back to the boy. "So according to the fashion expert over here… well actually, the words, 'fashion' and 'expert' are both overstatements."

"H-Hey! Rude!"

"...shoes do not count as an article of clothing. Gotta pick something else, dude."

Mike sighed, and then looked at his pants. "Nope," he said without a thought. "Guess that just leaves…" He didn't answer; he just tugged on the front of his shirt where his chest was.

Anne Maria chuckled and pointed at him with her nail file. "I don't blame you for wanting to keep your shirt on, Mike. You look like a stick figure!"

Mike's face seemed to droop as Anne Maria continued to laugh. Zoey shot him another smile, which gave him courage. "I-I guess I can… try to keep it from…"

"Hm? You guess you can keep it from what?" Zoey asked.

"I-I mean… I guess I can take my shirt off. That's what I meant to say."

Zoey was sure that that wasn't what he said, but she ignored that fact. Mike slowly pulled his arms into his sleeves, and lifted the teal shirt off of his shoulders until he was able to hold it freely in his hand.

"See," Zoey said. "That wasn't so-"

And then Mike gasped with a deep voice, just like he did yesterday before he turned into Svetlana. Only this time… when he opened his eyes, his hair was slicked back, and a six pack seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"Ey, what'chu all staring at?" Mike angrily asked, as he spoke like a foreign gangster. His answers were in the form of strange blinks. "Don't look too long, you'll burn your retainers."

Scarlett leaned back in disgust. "Um, you mean 'retinas?'"

"Ey yo, who said you could correct The Vito?" he snarled at the redhead, pointing at himself to emphasize his vanity.

Anne Maria found herself becoming weak. Her heart was thumping to an irresistible rhythm, and her cheeks looked like she had applied too much blush. "Oh my…"

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Anne Maria:** "Who would've thunk that a basic stick figure had such a sweet bod underneath his threads? Talk about zero to hero! Whoo-whee!" (she fans herself with her hand)

* * *

As soon as Vito spoke, Zoey quickly took her hand off of him. "M-Mike? What happened?"

"Look here, candy apple. I ain't Mike. The name's Vito."

Zoey felt betrayed. "C-Candy apple?"

Jasmine leaned over Samey to be able to talk to the indie girl. "It looks like this is another one of his characters. He's just acting."

"Is he really?" But no matter how hard she looked at him, nothing about him looked like acting. "Mike, what are you doing?"

Vito scooted away from Zoey and held his arms up for protection. "This body is V.I.P., I'll have you know. Stands for 'Vito Is Private,' you got that?"

She didn't care. She continued to tap him on the shoulder; hard enough to call it hitting. "Mike, Mike! This isn't funny! What happened to you?"

Anne Maria got up and made her way over to Vito, making sure to walk in an attractive fashion. "Here's what happened, red. Somebody finally realized how hot I am, ain't that right, baby?"

"Oh ho," Vito laughed as he saw Anne Maria up close. "Come sit on Santa's lap, doll. It's Christmastime!"

Anne Maria beamed when he saw Vito pat his thighs for her to sit on. "Don't mind if I do," she purred, sitting down on his lap and putting her arms on his shoulders.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Sky:** "Was Mike lying when he told me that he liked Zoey? Maybe he just said that as a part of a strategic plan. Of some sort… wait, no. I'm thinking too much into this. Either way, there's more to this story than meets the eye. The question is: should I dig deeper?"

* * *

Zoey looked like she wanted to cry, seeing Mike ignore her so blatantly. And to leave her for Anne Maria, too! She turned away from him and covered her eyes so that nobody would see except for Samey and Jasmine. And then, the tears slipped out and trickled weakly down her cheek.

Samey hugged her and pulled her in close, and Jasmine held her hand. "H-How could you…?" Zoey managed to say over her sobbing.

Even after all this time, nobody from Team Maskwak, excluding Anne Maria, said a word. The situation made them all feel uncomfortable, and they weren't sure what to think of Mike.

Zoey looked back at the two to see Anne Maria stroking the side of Vito's face, as if she was tracing a circle. She couldn't look at the sight for too long, as the emotions got to her too fast.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Zoey:** (crying) "I really thought that Mike and I had a connection… I'd sure like to hear how he's gonna talk his way out of this one. That is, if he even finds it in his heart to try!"

* * *

"Um, okay," Chris spoke to everyone. "I really don't know what to say to that except… Team Kinosewak gets a point!"

Despite Chris's forced cheerfulness, nobody on Team Kinosewak cheered. The air just felt… awkward. Chef felt awkward as he changed the score to a three-three tie, even though he was waiting for this moment.

Not even Vito felt happy. He was focusing on Anne Maria too much to notice anything Chris had to say.

"Tan in a can," the host snapped at Anne Maria. "If you don't get back to your team's log, you could cost your team a point."

Anne Maria finally looked away from Vito for once and crossed her legs as she turned towards Chris. "I ain't moving."

After hearing this, Jo had an idea. "Chris, I think she's trying to cheat!"

The host gasped dramatically, as the camera did a close-up on his face. "Ch-Cheat?!"

"Yeah, she's trying to get Mike's shirt back on him!"

Anne Maria rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right," she said, looking back at Vito's abs.

Chris could understand what Jo was saying, and snapped for Chef to grab her. "Okay, let's move along now. Thank you, Jo, for speaking up."

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Jo:** "Like Anne Maria would even be smart enough to think of a plan like that. I just said that to get her as far away from me as possible. Besides, all that lovey-dovey crap was about to trigger a gag reflex."

* * *

Before Chef could get to the girl, Anne Maria stood up with annoyance and began to walk back to her log to rejoin her teammates. After sitting, she waved with her fingers to Vito, who winked back at her.

"Alright. Now that _that's_ over with, let's move on to round seven-"

Scarlett had her hand raised again. "Um, Scarlett? I already said you don't have to do that."

"Sorry; forgetful old me. I question the inclusion of that scare, because his scare lasts for the rest of the game, but you have already given Mike… or Vito, I suppose, a point. But what if he does, in fact, put his shirt on before the challenge ends?"

Chris tapped his chin to think, but came up with an answer swiftly. "Easy. If you get a scare that lasts until the end of the game, then you just need to do it for your round to get a point. But, if you don't continue to do the scare, then your point will be removed and your team will get a shock. Sound fair enough?"

Zoey looked up at Chris with glassy eyes. "I guess so." Then she turned to Jasmine and Samey. "Not at all…" She told herself in her brain that unless she wanted a point deducted, she was going to have to leave Mike alone. Zoey had assumed that Mike only acts as Vito when his shirt is off, so all she could do was deal with him for the rest of the game, unless Mike somehow decided to return to his normal self. But Zoey didn't want this, nor did she expect something like that to happen.

"As I was saying," Chris continued. "Let's begin round lucky-number-seven with Team Maskwak once again. The first spinner selects… Ella."

Ella's eyes lit up as she heard her name. "Oh, joy!"

"My thoughts exactly," Chris told the girl. He pressed the button to stop the second spinner from spinning, and he had covered his eyes with his hand as he did so. He peeked through a gap made with his fingers at the TV screen, and was in complete disbelief when he saw…

"I-It's a flame… Ella gets a scare."

Dawn found amusement in this. "Are you still excited for this, Ella? Considering the scares that he's given out so far?"

Ella thought to herself. "I'm sure that whatever it is, I'll have fun doing it."

Cameron, Shawn, Anne Maria, and Samey all looked at Ella, hoping that she'd get the message about scares being "fun."

"Is she gonna get _that one scare_ , Chris?" Chef asked as he tried to look at Chris's clipboard. Suddenly, a thought finally hit Chris in the head like a blunt weapon. All it took was one glance at his clipboard to make him drop it.

"Oh no," was all he could say. "Oh no oh no oh no oh no OH NO!"

Ella didn't even try to comprehend what Chris was talking about, but she became worried as his pupils shrank smaller and smaller for every word he said.

"E-Ella… you have to…"

Chef slammed the table with his fist, almost knocking the TV over as an effect. "Spit it out!"

"You have to… sing for the rest of the challenge…"

Ella gasped and clapped her hands with pure joy once she heard this. Most of the campers groaned and slammed their palms onto their faces.

The songbird cleared her throat to sing to her team. "I promise I won't let you down! Please, my dear friends, do not frown."

Chris slapped his face multiple times. "Make… it… stop…" he whined.

Ella heard him and turned to the host to continue singing. Not to annoy him, of course. "A point for my team, please, a point would be nice. It's hot, and I could go for a lemonade with ice!"

Chris pointed to Chef with weak, shaky hands. He was moving so slow, it was like he was moving underwater. "J-Just… change the score… Chef…"

Chef shrugged and changed the score to 4-3. "Her singing's not _that_ bad, you wimp."

When Ella finally stopped, Chris found it easier to move and to speak. "Ella, to keep your point, you don't _have_ to sing every round. You just can't talk normally."

"Okay, I understand in full… my melodies are rarely dull…"

Chris winced before restarting the spinners for Team Kinosewak. "Let's see here… we have… Samey again, but with a truth this time!"

Samey looked at Zoey and Jasmine, and then let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. That's much easier."

Amy sneered at her sister. "You had better not mess this up, Lamey."

Samey didn't react to this, which made Amy angrier.

"Chill, hon'." Scott told the mean cheerleader. "Let's see how she does."

Chris found Samey's list of questions on his clipboard and asked the first one. "Samey, who would be the one person you would save from death?"

Samey took one look around at her team. Jasmine and Zoey were obviously on her mind, but she couldn't decide which one she would save. Clucky approaching her divided her attention. "The chicken doesn't have to get on my lap, right?"

Clucky answered by jumping onto her lap and sitting down.

"Great…" Samey groaned. She thought some more, until she was interrupted once more; this time, by Chris.

"Tick tock." The cheerleader tried to ignore him for the rest of her turn.

Amy stood up and walked over to her sister, stopping right in front of her. "Why aren't you saying my name? Pick me."

"Huh?"

"I said PICK ME, you disgusting animal!"

Jasmine had to stand up to intervene. "Back off, Amy. You've already had your turn, and you blew it. It's Samey's turn."

Amy didn't care. "Pick… me…" she growled.

"Back off," Jasmine reiterated, with a more serious tone.

Zoey, her face still stained with light tears, wiped some off and said, "You don't have to do it, Samey… pick for yourself."

Samey felt like this was the most conflicted that she's ever felt in her entire life. It was like nobody gave her a chance to think. Not Clucky, not Chris, not Amy… nobody.

Amy was at the point of screaming. "I told you to pick me! I'm older, so you have to learn to respect and listen to me! Unless you're too stupid to understand!"

"Five seconds," Chris warned.

Samey clenched her teeth and shut her eyelids tight enough to prevent the smallest beam of light from hitting her eyes.

"O-Okay, fine…" she finally answered, defeated by her sister. "I would actually save Amy."

Brick was the next person to stand up. "Amy, what was that? You pretty much just forced a lie out of her!"

"It wasn't a lie; just something that needed to be said. I haven't been getting the respect I deserve as the older sibling lately. Besides, it's up to the chicken whether she lied or not!" Amy bent down and put her face a couple inches in front of Clucky's beak. "Which she didn't!"

Amy was rewarded with a peck to the eyeball.

"Ow… just give us the freaking answer, Clucky!"

Clucky began looking at Samey's face; inspecting her every movement. She was sweating for two reasons: because she wasn't sure if she actually lied or not, and because she couldn't imagine what Amy would do after Clucky gave her answer.

After a few seconds of silence from everyone, Clucky let out a shrill shriek that startled everyone. She frantically jumped over to the remote and shocked Team Kinosewak.

"Wow," Chris commented. "Amy, can you feel the love?" The cheerleader growled and kicked the log with her foot, almost knocking Lightning over again.

"YOU!" she screamed, pointing at Samey. "You are the worst person to ever set foot on this planet!"

Samey had had enough. "You sure are one to talk, Amy!"

"Girls," Chris piped up. "Can you save the sibling bickering for later?"

"Shut up, Chris," they both shouted in unison.

Amy pretended to tear up. "You… you actually lied about wanting to save me!"

"Wh-What are you doing?"

"You would actually let me die? Your own _sister_?!"

"I wasn't lying…! I swear!"

"I can't believe this… I know that I'm mean sometimes, and I boss you around, but… I would never let you die! So why would you say that about me?!"

"I didn't… I really didn't know what to…" Samey lost her words, and it seemed like a couple of people on Team Kinosewak took Amy's side. Jo, Lightning, Scott, and Vito were all sending suspicious looks in her direction. "This can't be happening…"

Chris was kind of getting a kick out of this. "Wow! This is going to be great for the ratings! Maybe I should call this episode: 'Twinning Isn't Everything?'"

"Shut up, Chris!" Amy screamed once more, but Samey didn't do it with her this time. She felt emotionally attacked by what Amy did, and knew no other remedy than to hang her head low to hide her tears.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Scott:** "So Amy's actually doing something useful for once: relying on strategy. Making Samey seem like the bad twin? Of course I didn't buy it for a second, but the more that I think about it, the more that I need Samey off this island. Amy hasn't really done anything yet, but that's just because she's too busy bossing Samey around. And I need Amy focused on challenges if my plan's gonna work. So… the best way to get Samey off the show is to throw the challenge and make other people vote for her. And that's exactly what I plan to do. Hehehe…"

* * *

Jasmine waited until after Amy sat back down to find her cool until she spoke to Samey. "Why did you do that? You just let her walk all over you again!"

Samey didn't speak. Her golden blonde hair fell in strands in front of her face to hide her eyes.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Samey:** (she wipes her nose with her wrist and sniffs while crying) "I don't know why I said that! It was just like… all this stress was put on me so quickly, and… I just couldn't find the words to say! I wanted to make her happy for once, just to see if that would change anything and… I don't know anymore. (buries her face in her hands) Amy is such a monster!"

* * *

Chris went over to retrieve the remote from the table with pep in his step, to try to lighten the mood up a bit. "Okay, is the rivalry over?"

Nobody answered. "Good. Let's move on to round eight!"

Every member of Team Maskwak that had already been selected became nervous, because now that they've seen Samey go a second time, they could also be selected again.

Chris started the spinners, and once they both stopped, he started to snicker. That snicker grew into a laugh, and that laugh turned into howling that could be heard from anywhere on Pahkitew Island. The campers were surprised but intrigued at what this round would be like for Team Maskwak.

After wiping a tear from his cheek, Chris announced who would be participating for this round. "B… with a truth! Ahahaha!"

All eyes turned to the silent inventor; the only person who hasn't said a word since he set foot on Pahkitew Island. And now he has to do a truth: the one option of this challenge where you're guaranteed to have to talk, or else you get shocked.

Cameron looked at the teen. "B, are you actually going to talk?"

B shook his head and hands at the same time and speed.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **B:** (sweats as he speaks in sign language; subtitles appear below) _"I hope Chris knows sign language."_

* * *

"But B can't talk!" Dawn cried, holding her arms out. "Just look at his aura. How is he supposed to answer the question?" B shrugged to agree with Dawn.

"Don't care," dismissed Chris, looking for B's question. "He's gonna either have to talk, or lose the round."

Max crossed his arms. "You had better speak, you gigantic oaf of a man."

B held his finger to his lips as his eyes narrowed, but even that was enough to make Max offended.

"Shut down with naught but silence…" he exclaimed to himself. "This must be some sort of sorcery…"

"Or maybe you're just weak," Scarlett suggested.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. I just cleared my throat."

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Scarlett:** "Gullible, _and_ sensitive. (grins wickedly) He's perfect."

* * *

Chris, unlike Scarlett, actually cleared his throat before speaking. "B. To win a point, you must tell everyone your real name."

Team Maskwak gasped and looked at B. They had just been lied to by someone who hadn't said a word to them.

"Your real name isn't B?" Sam asked. "Well, your real name can't be that bad. Just tell us!"

B took off his orange cap to fan himself with it. The stress was making him sweat.

"You've got ten seconds, B," Chris said, looking at the stopwatch.

The inventor looked to his right; Max. Nope. Then to his left; Ella. He thought she was fine enough. She tapped on her shoulder.

"Oh," she sang. "What is it, my friend?"

B leaned in to whisper something to Ella. He made sure to cover his mouth as he told her his real name.

"You surely must be joking," Ella said, singing at high pitches. With a glum face, B shook his head.

"Oh… you are serious. An answer quite mysterious!" She turned to everyone and continued her song. "Listen to my tune, so heavenly. This boy's real name is… Beverly!"

All mouths dropped open as if they were spring-loaded, and they howled with laughter. B looked down just like Samey did, and he thought exactly this. For a moment, he looked up to see Samey. She was the only one not laughing on Team Kinosewak; even Zoey, who looked heartbroken earlier, couldn't help but laugh. But Samey still had Amy on her mind.

Even so, Samey heard everything that's been said. Her eye movements proved that. But she still didn't laugh. The only time she did look up was to look at B with a faint smile. That smile was the only positive thing about her face. Her swelled-up red cheeks, her eyes tired from crying, and quivering lips… but those quivering lips somehow managed to shift into a smile. An empathetic smile.

 _That's right,_ B thought to himself. _Her real name is Sammy._

B found this admirable. He smiled back, even during all the hateful laughter.

"Why are you smiling?" Chris asked B. "When you're about to get shocked, that is?"

His smile immediately faded.

"What do you mean we're getting shocked?" Dawn asked after controlling her giggling. "He answered correctly, did he not?"

"Wrong," shouted Chris. "B never answered; Ella answered for him. Which means… well, you know." He sent shocks through Team Maskwak's collars once again.

Max darted arrogant eyes at the silent inventor. "Nice work, Bev," he sneered.

Cameron had been thinking about this ever since B's real name was revealed. "Hey B, if you don't mind me asking… why did your parents name you Beverly?"

B shrugged, leaving Cameron disappointed.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Dawn:** "Here's what actually happened. B's parents accidentally mixed up the first name and the city on his birth certificate. He was actually born in Beverly, Alberta, and his real name is… well, I'll leave that to mystery. It's curious how a husband and wife so stupid could have a child so intelligent, is it not?"

* * *

To be polite, Dawn had decided not to tell the group what she knew at this time. She would just let them wait until they watched her confessional on TV.

"Next up, Team Kinosewak…"

As Chris started the spinners for what seemed like the millionth time, Team Kinosewak began to feel less and less interested in the challenge. After witnessing what happened to Mike and Samey, they didn't want to start any more drama. But there was nothing they could do. Team Maskwak was winning a three-four lead, and they had to win no matter what.

But Scott, Amy, and Samey were the only members of Team Kinosewak who wanted to lose. The former two wanted to lose to get the chance to vote off Samey, and Samey wanted to vote her sister off the island.

Lucky for them, none of them were selected for this round.

With an outstretched hand, Chris announced, "Jasmine, with a scare."

"Oh, a scare? I should be able to handle anything you throw at me." She stood up confidently and stretched her arms.

Chris double-checked the next scare on his list and began chuckling. "Oh, really? You sure about that?"

"I'm quite sure."

"About that… this scare doesn't require physical strength. But rather… mental strength."

Jasmine tilted her hat up. "What does that mean?"

"Your scare is…" Chris answered, pausing for effect. "Don't laugh while the other team tries to make you."

The members of Team Maskwak's eyes lit up as a whole, as if it were turned on by a light switch. Jasmine had lost some of her confidence, but she stood her ground. "That's fine. I should be able to handle this."

"You just have to keep a straight face for thirty seconds straight. You can't laugh, you can't snicker, and you can't even crack the smallest grin in the world," the host explained. "Fair enough?"

The Australian girl shrugged. "I suppose so." Her nerves were partially calmed because she had gotten one of the easiest scares of the challenge so far.

Chris ran over to Jasmine to tell her one last thing. "Oh, I forgot to mention. You can't look away from Team Maskwak, and you can't close your eyes, except when you're blinking. And… go!"

Jasmine wanted to look away, but she couldn't all she could do was observe what everyone was doing, starting from the far left.

Anne Maria had her head turned to Jasmine's right and sprayed hairspray behind her head, making it look like she was eating the hairspray from Jasmine's perspective. Scarlett pulled the sides of her mouth out and stuck her tongue out. This was completely out of character, but that irony was the only part of Scarlett's act that Jasmine found funny.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Scarlett:** "I know I look like a complete moron. But at least I won't be the one getting shocked. Well, not this time anyways."

* * *

Max was copying Scarlett, like the unoriginal person he was. B crossed his arms and bobbed his head side to side with a serious face. This made Jasmine cover her mouth, but she left most of it uncovered to show Chris that she still wasn't grinning.

Ella was singing the lyrics to "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air." Dawn had her hands folded in her lap as she judgmentally peeked side to side at her teammates. She also did this because she thought that Jasmine would find it funny, which she partially did.

Cameron exhaled as if he was about to do the most embarrassing thing in his life. He leaned in towards his right… and kissed Dakota on the cheek.

"E-Ew! What the hell was that?!"

The bubble boy felt like he was shrinking and Dakota shook her hands in disgust. He only did this because he thought that Dakota's reaction would be what made Jasmine laugh, but he didn't consider what Dakota would think of him after this challenge.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Cameron:** "Aside from my mother, I've never kissed anyone before! From all the TV shows I watch, kissing is supposed to be a major achievement for teenagers, but… I'm not sure whether to feel happy or sad about this."

 **Dakota:** "UGH, that was absolutely disgusting! Get hot water! Get some disinfectant! Get some iodine!"

* * *

Once he saw what had just happened, Lightning began to crack up. He gripped the top of his head as if he was holding on for his life, and bellowed out laughter.

"You idiot," Jo angrily replied. "Don't laugh! You might make Jasmine laugh!" This shut Lightning up immediately; her censored riot earlier made it clear that she was in charge.

Jasmine almost cracked once she saw Dakota's reaction, as well as Cameron's reaction to her reaction. Sam began to make badly-executed bird calls. Jasmine was about to do it; she was about to smile. But then she laid eyes on Shawn.

"Ten seconds, Jasmine," Chris announced, eyes on his stopwatch.

Shawn didn't want to look at Jasmine; she may find that funny in some way. So he just looked away and began to cry. Jasmine's hand went straight from her mouth to her heart once she saw the tears begin to form from his eyelids.

"Oh my…" she whispered. "What is he…?"

And then it became clear to her. She's not smiling. She's not laughing. Shawn's trying to help her win the challenge! So she kept her eyes on Shawn for the remaining five seconds.

"And… time!" Chris shouted. "Congrats, Jasmine. You just earned your team a point!"

Chef flicked the flipbook on his right for Team Kinosewak, changing the score to a four-four tie.

"Nice work, Jasmine," Zoey complimented, with a pleased expression. "I know that must have been difficult."

Jasmine sat back down beside Samey. "It's alright. I had a little help."

After a long while, Samey finally gathered the courage to speak. "Help? From who?"

It wasn't until Samey pointed this out that Jasmine realized what she had done. Thankfully, she was quick to answer. "I was talking about Jo, of course," she lied. "I probably would've laughed if she hadn't kept her head in the game."

"Oh," Samey answered, nodding. "Okay, cool."

Once both Samey and Zoey were looking away from Jasmine, she exchanged smiles with Shawn.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Shawn:** "The possibility that Jasmine could turn into a zombie is still there, but that doesn't mean that I should hate slash avoid her! Not at all! If anything, I wanna help her get as far into the game as possible. Besides, I'm a good fake crier. The trick is to think about my Golden Retriever that died when I was seven. (he strokes his chin to think) Or… was I eight? No, no, wait! I'm thinking about it too much! (he starts to cry behind his arm) RICKYYY!"

* * *

"The score is now tied as we begin round nine," Chris announced. "As of now, the challenge will be decided by a best-two-out-of-three point system. If the two teams somehow tie with five points each, then we will have to do the sudden death round!"

"Sudden death?" Dave asked, although he was a bit nervous to find out what it really meant.

"Don't worry, nobody will die," Chris assured. "Unless there's a glitch in the shock collars. Who knows?" Dave began to grip his metal collar once he heard this.

He dusted off his hands. "So, if anyone wants to avoid the sudden death round, one of team needs to get two points in a row. Besides, I don't want to be out here any longer. There's an air-conditioned trailer with my name on it."

As Chris heartily laughed, every camper sent him a hateful glare of jealously. Chris knew this; that's why his laugh was as lively as ever.

"Okay, Team Maskwak," he addressed, restarting the spinners. "To win a point, let's see… Sam will have to complete a truth!"

Sam adjusted his glasses. "A truth? Aw, that's nothing. I don't have anything to hide."

"Oh really?" the host insinuated, wiggling his eyebrows. "Then answer me this, O Confident One. Out of everyone here, who would you kill?"

"K-Kill?" Sam didn't even need to look around for this answer. "I don't care who it is; I could never kill anyone!"

Clucky was still walking over to Sam after he had answered.

"Wow," Chris said, quickly shaking his head from disbelief. "So honest, so fast… it's almost too good to be true." He snapped to get Clucky's attention and sent her over to Team Maskwak's log. "Clucky, check him."

The chicken saluted to Chris and continued to make his way to the gamer. As Jo saw this, she gave Brick a suggestive look.

"Huh? What's that look for?"

"You know, it's strange… I think I may have just found your long lost twin!"

"You mean Clucky? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, you didn't see? Clucky just saluted to Chris."

"N-No, I wasn't paying attention."

"Why not?"

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Brick:** "Ever since Clucky forced me to tell everyone about my… pants-wetting problem… I just can't face that chicken anymore. If I do, I feel like it'll look straight into my soul and discover my darkest secrets! N-Not that I have any… the pants-wetting thing is about as far as it goes."

* * *

Brick shrugged to agree with Jo. "I guess I understand what you're trying to say."

"Good to hear." The jockette adjusted her sitting position as if she was done with the conversation, but this was only to catch Brick off-guard.

"Oh, and besides… you would be twins with that chicken anyways, salute or no salute."

The cadet's mouth dropped open as Jo laughed away.

Clucky had been inspecting Sam's face ever since Jo began her conversation, but she hadn't moved an inch since. Sam began to feel intimidated, even though he had told the entire truth.

"W-Well, aside from video games and boss battles…"

But that was enough. Clucky finally understood Sam and nodded to the host.

"Oh," he said, disappointed. "I was expecting a more exciting round there."

"Exciting?" Sam asked, standing up with anger. "You actually, genuinely like watching us get shocked?"

The host smiled innocently. "It's a grown-up thing. You'll understand when you get older." Sam knew not to lash out on someone like Chris, so he just sat down with a red face. Dakota whispered to Sam as he sat down, but not in his ear to attract attention.

"Isn't he just the worst?"

"Oh yeah, definitely. Think he'll have a change of heart soon?"

"Nah," they both said together, smiling.

Chris picked up the remote. "Congrats to Team Maskwak, for earning their possibly last point." Sam and Shawn high-fived each other as Chef changed their score.

"Now, for Team Kinosewak." Its members watched anxiously as their faces flew across the TV screen alongside halos and flames. The two icons that were selected were…

"Zoey, with a scare!"

The indie girl hung her head low. "Seriously? A scare?"

"What's the matter, red?" Vito poked fun at her. "You scared or something?"

"I don't want to hear it, _especially_ not from you," Zoey remarked, holding her hand up. Those who had noticed how close Zoey and Mike have been these past two days gasped. Even though Mike clearly wasn't himself, for someone as nice as Zoey to say something like that to Mike was almost unthinkable.

Zoey ignored the looks she was getting. "What's my scare, Chris?"

"This one's a pretty good one," Chris commented before reading the scare from his clipboard. "Zoey, how are you with sour foods?"

"Sour?" Zoey actually became delighted once she heard this. "That's great, I love sour foods."

" _Oh_ ," Chris said again, with more disgust this time. "That's not fun. Guess this round is just a hunk of boredom, isn't it?"

Zoey was displeased. "Hey, if you want me to, I can pass on the dare. If you want to see us get shocked, that is."

"Would you?" Chris asked. He was completely serious.

"Heck no!" Zoey shouted. "Can you give me the sour food already?"

"Zoey," Jasmine gasped. "Calm down, you're…"

"I know," Zoey interrupted her. "I'm just not myself today…"

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Zoey:** "And I'm _clearly_ not the only one who's not myself today…"

* * *

Chef walked over to Zoey with a silver platter. He lifted the shiny lid to reveal a small yellow candy.

"All I have to do is eat this, and I get a point?" Zoey asked, pointing at the strange candy.

"That's not the scare," Chris explained. "The scare is to keep the candy in your mouth until it loses its sour flavor, without making a pucker face."

"Hmm… I can do this. I've got this in the bag!" She seemed to regain her usual character as she humbly took the sour candy from the platter.

Chris picked up his stopwatch, looked at it, and threw it behind him. "There's no time limit for this one. Just tell us when the sour's gone from the candy, okay?"

"O-Okay," Zoey agreed.

The stopwatch accidentally hit Anne Maria's poof with a clang, but she didn't even react.

Zoey rotated the candy in her hand, looking at all of its angles. "Um, Chris… what candy is this?"

"It's a sour candy imported straight from Japan, called ' _Shiawasena Suppai Sato no Pakka no Tanoshimi no Jikan Bumubumu Kyandi_ ,' or in English…"

Cameron interrupted him. "Happy Sour Sugar Pucker Fun Time Boom Boom Candy?"

"Dang it, Cameron!" Chris cursed, punching both fists to the hot summer sky. "I spent eighteen minutes trying to memorize all that!"

Zoey looked at the candy once more, sniffing it to check how sour it was. "Ew," she cried, holding her nose. "Usually I like sour foods, but this is way over the limit!"

"Whenever you're ready, Zoey," Chris said, trying to be patient. "And once you put the candy in your mouth, you can't spit it out until the sour flavoring is gone, or else you could cost your team the point."

"P-Piece of cake," the indie girl replied, mostly to herself. With one last breath, she popped the small, circular candy into her mouth. "Ah…"

Samey held her hand. "Breathe, Zoey. You can do this."

Zoey spoke, her voice muffled by the candy. "Gross… this tastes like someone stuck an atomic bomb in my mouth!"

Chris looked at his phone to get details about the candy. "Apparently, Happy Sour Boom Boom Barf Bag Whatever-You-Call-It Candy isn't recommended for anyone under eighteen."

"I-I'm under eighteen!"

Chris brushed a lock of his hair from his forehead to the side. "Becoming famous wasn't recommended by my parents, yet here I am."

Zoey growled, and continued to focus on the candy. "Hey… it's losing its flavor a little bit!"

"Nice work, Zoey," Sky complimented, holding a fist above her for support.

"Mmm," Zoey hummed, finally getting past the unpleasant sour layer of the candy. "Normal lemon flavoring…"

"Just to be sure, the sour flavor is out?" Chris checked.

"Yes, I'm positive."

"…Chef."

Chris snapped to Chef like usual, and he ran over to Zoey with a napkin, holding it up below her face. She spat out the candy onto the napkin, making everyone disgusted. But that was just the appetizer, if you'll excuse my joke. Chef lifted the wet candy from his napkin, and stuck it in his mouth.

Dave almost fainted when he saw this. "G-Germs…"

Thankfully, Sky caught him by his sides before he fell over. "Careful, there."

"Thanks… you're a lifesaver, Sky."

"No, no, that's really high praise. The worst thing that could happen would've been a face full of dirt." Dave smiled admirably at the athlete, but she caught herself doing the same, and adjusted her face to seem less friendly.

"Gross gross gross…" Dakota squealed, covering her eyes. "Please don't swallow that, I'm begging you!"

Chef looked around before spitting the candy back into the napkin. "Consider yourselves lucky," he told all the disgusted campers. "As for Zoey, she didn't lie. There wasn't a single speck of sour on this thing."

"Awesome," Zoey celebrated. "We got another point, guys!"

But nobody celebrated with her.

"H-Huh? I said we…"

Nobody needed to say anything. One look at Chef made everything clear as to why nobody was speaking.

The score was now tied, five to five.

"Oh no," wailed Cameron, biting his fingernails. "That means that we have to do the sudden death round, right?"

Chris nodded with pure enthusiasm, making everyone groan. "Before I explain the rules of the sudden death round, know that this will be the final point of the challenge. Meaning that the points you've earned are permanent. This means that Mike can put his shirt back on, and Ella doesn't have to sing anymore."

"Uh, Chris," Chef whispered, holding up the book of Total Drama rules. "That's nowhere in the-"

"Just play along," he answered quietly enough so that Ella was unable to hear him. Although he could stand the girl's singing, Chef gave a thumbs-up and tossed the book behind him.

As Ella glumly sighed, Zoey picked up Mike's shirt off the ground and handed it to Vito. "Please put this on," she urged.

"Ey yo, who says I have to listen to you?"

The indie girl sighed, but thought of a plan. "Anne Maria thinks you look hotter with your shirt on."

"For real?" he asked. As eager as a dog in front of a metal dish of kibble and gravy, Vito swiped the shirt from Zoey and slipped it on his body. "Hey, Anne Maria! Get an eyeful of-"

He never got to finish his sentence. He gasped, and seemed to wobble back and forth, but somehow managed to keep his balance on the log. Zoey took his back for support.

"Ugh… Zoey? What's going on?"

Zoey gasped. It was his normal voice; Mike's voice. She was happy that he was done pretending to be Vito, but that didn't change the fact that he flirted with Anne Maria in front of her, and put on his shirt for her.

Anne Maria put her hands on her cheeks in horror. "Wait… Vito, are you there?" But she had been completely ignored.

"Zoey? Is everything okay?"

Zoey crossed her arms. "I'm done playing games, Mike."

"Wh-What does that mean-"

"Look. We can talk about it later, okay? We have a challenge to win…" she said with a breaking spirit. Mike rubbed his arm with multiplying thoughts of worry.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Mike:** "It was like I blacked out after taking my shirt off, but I know exactly what happened. Letting Vito out has been the most dangerous thing I've ever done on this show yet, and it's only the second episode! Getting a point for my team definitely wasn't worth losing Zoey! She's such a great girl, and a freak like me doesn't deserve her… so what's the use trying anymore?"

 **Anne Maria:** "That was… weird. Seems like Mike only turns into Vito when his shirt comes off. But… at least now I know how to bring him back. (points to camera) You ain't seen the last of Canada's favorite power couple!"

* * *

"For the sudden death round, there won't be any truths; only one scare. One member from each team will be selected to participate."

Brick stood up immediately after hearing this. "I volunteer to participate for my team."

"No, wait," Samey interrupted, standing up beside Brick. "I want to participate. I want to prove to my team that I'm not just some worthless cheerleader. I want to win the challenge for my team!"

Scott also stood up with the two, laughing bitterly. "If anyone's gonna volunteer for this team, it's me," he ordered with sneaky intentions.

Nobody on Team Maskwak stood up to volunteer.

"Um… who said anything about volunteering?" Scarlett asked with her hands in her lap. The three who stood up all looked at each other with embarrassment. Brick and Samey mumbled nonsensical excuses as they sat back down, but Scott just huffed.

Scarlett continued to explain. "It's more likely that Chris will select the two participants. After all, it's more psychologically accurate to use the same method that you have been using the most often-"

"We don't care, Scarlett," Chris said, bluntly. "But yes, we will be selecting participants by using the randomizers."

Chris picked up the remote and changed the right slot (the one with flames and halos) into a slot filled with Team Kinosewak face icons, leaving the one on the right for Team Maskwak. Team Maskwak was nervous, but Team Kinosewak was anxious.

"Alright, let's see who we've got!" Chris called, pressing the button to stop both spinners. "Would Ella and Scott please step forward?"

"M-Me?" Scott asked, flabbergasted.

Ella sprang up from her log, clapping her hands. "Oh, how exciting!" They both chose to run over to Chris; although Ella's running was more graceful and Scott's was more determined.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Scott:** "A one-out-of-eleven chance to get chosen, and somehow I did. It's like the universe _wants_ me to win this season! And as annoying as Ella is, she seems resourceful. So when I secretly let Ella win this challenge, nobody will get suspicious of either of us. (points to the sky and smiles) Good choice picking Ella, universe."

* * *

"This is how the sudden death round will work," Chris explained to Ella and Scott, holding something from behind his back with both hands.

Ella noticed this. "Um, may I ask what is behind your back?"

Like a jump rope, Chris swung the object over his head and held it out in front of him. It was a jet black legwarmer with two strange-looking knots tied on both ends with white shoestring.

"A legwarmer," Scott said, without any emotion in his voice, to the point where nobody knew if he was asking a question or not. "What is this, the 1980's?"

"I don't know," Chris answered, giving his shoulders a slight bounce. "Maybe you should ask Chef. He knows a thing or two about outdated fashion." Chef growled from beside the table, clenching his fist in front of him as he contemplated punching the host with a plastic face.

"Hold these," Chris explained. He handed both ends to each participant. Ella took it with both hands, and Scott swiped it away from the host as impolite as he could.

"Inside this legwarmer is another remote that sends shocks to your collars. As you can see, both ends of the legwarmer are tied with shoelaces. Here's a little fun fact: this Egyptian knot was created in the same year that the pyramids were built, and it's been scientifically proven that only 20% of humans are able to untie this knot without rage-quitting."

Chris laughed just thinking about the reactions that Ella or Scott may have once he commences the sudden death round. "The first person to untie their knot, grab the remote inside, and shock the other team gets their sixth point, and their team will win today's challenge!"

Both teams sent supportive cheering and clapping for Ella and Scott. Chris waited for the noise to die down before saying, "No pressure, but this entire challenge depends on you. Once again, no pressure."

"Some taken," Scott remarked, perfectly hiding his intentions.

The host hopped up onto the table and sat in front of the TV, so he could get comfortable while watching the sudden death round. "Just to be clear, the remote inside the legwarmer is different from the one I have here," he said, fiddling with the first remote. "On the new remote, there are only two buttons. A red one and a green one. Scott, if you get the remote first, press the red Team Maskwak button to shock their team."

"So I just press the opposite team's color when I get the remote, right?"

" _If_ you get the remote, that is," Chris corrected. "And Ella, that means that your goal is to press the green Team Kinosewak button to shock _their_ team."

Ella covered her mouth. "Shock… you don't mean that if I win, I'll be the cause of more people getting shocked?"

"That's right. Isn't it fun?"

"I-I could never do something so horrid!" Ella looked desperately to her team, who said nothing, for they knew that all decisions in this game were final. "Please, you must pick someone else! I am unfit for this challenge!"

People in Team Maskwak such as Sam or Dawn wanted to give the songbird some words of advice. If they advised her to lose the challenge, then she would get shocked. But if they advised her to win the challenge, then she would feel guilty about shocking the other team. So they stayed silent, and let Ella decide for herself.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Dawn:** "Ella's a good friend of mine. But do I have faith that she'll win this challenge? Yes… somewhat. Her kind, frail heart could prevent her from going through with this, but hey. A little faith is better than no faith at all."

* * *

Ella gulped as she tried looking at the Egyptian knot. Everyone had their mind on the remote inside the legwarmer, but Ella was the only one who was thinking about it with heartache.

"And… go!"

Chris had slammed his hand on the table, making the TV wobble, although it stayed upright. As the host hit the table, everyone started cheering on their two teammates.

Scott spent the first couple seconds pecking at the knot with his thumb and index finger.

"Hey, potato sack," Jo called out. "What's the hold up?"

Scott looked back, and didn't have to pretend to be angry. "My fingers are too damn big!"

"If only Chris told us which Egyptian knot this was," Brick said to Amy. "When it comes to tying and untying knots, I'm a walking encyclopedia-"

"We don't care, nerd," Amy snipped. Ignoring Brick, she cupped her hands around her mouth to shout at Scott. "Come on, Scott! You've got this!"

The farm boy heard Amy's words, and although they seem supportive, he took them more as words of complaint.

"Yeah, Ella!" Shawn cheered from Team Maskwak's side. "You've got it; now keep looking for loose parts of the shoelace!"

Ella was uncertain of what to think. Her trembling gloved hand felt around all parts of the Egyptian knot, as she looked back every other second due to lack of focus. "I… I can't…"

"Yes, you can!" Dawn told her. "I sense a wish for victory in your aura!"

Ella's heart seemed to freeze, as she was unsure of whether or not there was truth in Dawn's words. "R-Really? I actually…"

Before she could think about Dawn's words anymore, the part of the shoelace that Ella had tugged on was loose. She tried finding the loose parts of the lace that weaved into itself, to see if she could untangle them. "Wait a minute, I think I have it…"

Without even realizing it, Ella was getting closer and closer to doing something that she was very much against; causing other people pain and/or sorrow.

"Scott, stop moping around," Jasmine told him, borderlining on yelling.

Scott rubbed his fingers as if they hurt. "Sorry, I'm trying my best," he lied. "Besides, even if Ella gets the remote first, I don't think she has the guts to shock us."

Ella overheard this. "You may be right…" She tugged on another small section of the shoelace, to see that it came loose and parted from the knot. "That's it! I can get the… the knot now!"

Team Maskwak was relieved to hear that Ella could actually get the knot untied, but there was something about Ella's voice that seemed off. She was beginning to remember what she was untying the knot for.

Grunts came from Scott as he continued working at his end of the legwarmer. He took one look up at Ella to see an untied shoelace drop to the ground, rustling as it brushed against the grass. "What the...?" he blurted.

The songbird reached her hand into the legwarmer, and hesitantly pulled the remote out.

"Push the button, Ella!" Cameron said, fists clenched in excitement. "The green one!"

Her finger hovered over the green button like a fly around a trash can; a physical representation of Ella's thoughts, wavering frantically.

But she finally cracked, and rested the back of her hand on her forehead in shame. "Oh, I can't!"

Scott reached out for the remote while still holding his end of the legwarmer. "The remote, Ella! Give it to me!" he urged, even while knowing that she wouldn't do such a thing.

"Please be quiet, I'm having trouble thinking…" Ella replied, as kindly as she possibly could. She took a glance at all the faces of Team Kinosewak's members; at all the anxious faces and at all the annoyed faces. And then there was Scott… who just scoffed in defeat.

"Tch, who cares anymore…? I'm not going to play dirty and take that from you. I was just bluffing." He held out his hand towards the remote. "Go ahead. Shock us. You won fair and square." With that, Scott dropped his end of the legwarmer and sat back down beside Amy and Mike.

Amy was surprised at his actions. "That was… surprisingly cool of you." Normally she'd get angry for giving up like that, but she felt like she was becoming closer to Scott.

That left Ella, still holding the remote. Scott's surrender had tempted her to press the green button… and she finally gave in, with teary eyes.

"I'm sorry…" she apologized, with a hand on her heart. "I'm so sorry, everyone!"

She pressed the button with her thumb, sending the final shock of the day towards Team Kinosewak's collars. Seeing their twitching movements and surprised expressions was too much for Ella to handle, so she dropped the remote to the ground and ran towards Dawn, who let her cry on her shoulder.

Chris dropped his clipboard and stopwatch onto the ground with exultation. "And that does it! Team Maskwak wins today's challenge!"

"Ella, it's okay…" Dawn consoled. "You won the challenge!"

"I… I don't care… I'm a horrible person…"

"You're not horrible. Any one of us would've done the same." As Ella buried her face in Dawn's shoulder, Dawn looked to her team and gestured for them to cheer with her hand. Everyone on Team Maskwak began clapping, and even a select few from Team Kinosewak clapped with them.

Even Chef decided to join them. There was something that drew him to Team Maskwak, and couldn't help but support them.

"Okay," Chris said, interrupting the cheering. "Chef, could you go around and remove the collars from our campers?"

Chef whistled with his fingers to summon three interns from who-knows-where. They began to fiddle with the backs of the collars to open them and take them off.

"Thank you," the host said, with his arms behind his back. "Team Maskwak, since you won the challenge, you will not have to participate in the campfire ceremony tonight. You will also get a reward for your victory."

Max's ears perked up. "Do we get a Chinese dinner, too?"

"No, the rewards will be different every time. Today's reward is new quilts for your entire team."

The winning team, excluding Ella and Dawn, cheered once more.

"Hey," Cameron told B. "We can use them for the new beds you're making!"

B's eyes widened as his entire body froze. Then, he ran off with his arms in front of him towards his cabin.

Cameron was confused, but then seemed to get the message. "Come on, guys! We have to go help him!" Cameron, along with Shawn and Sam, got up and chased after B.

Sam turned back after noticing that they were missing somebody. "Max, that means you too!"

"Ugh, fine," he angrily agreed after standing up. "But I'm just coming for the quilts!" He chased after them, and everyone else could faintly hear Max calling out, "They had better have rocket ship patterns on them!"

After snickering with Team Kinosewak, Chris turned to the girls of Team Maskwak. "What are you waiting for? You won, now go enjoy yourselves!"

Dakota and Anne Maria looked at each other with a grin, and then ran off to their cabin. Scarlett and Dawn decided to stay with Ella.

"Ella, we won! Let's go celebrate," Scarlett requested. With a sniff and a nod, Ella stood up with the two girls and walked towards the cabin.

The lighthearted atmosphere from Max's comment had left from Team Kinosewak as soon as Chris turned around to face them. "Sorry, guys. Guess I found the team with the most liars and chickens."

Jo growled. "That's not funny, McLean!"

"You're right. This is no laughing matter. Tonight, one of you will be voted off of Total Drama Revenge: Pahkitew Island. Real serious biz. You will have until tonight to discuss and decide who to vote for. I'll see you at the campfire, Team Kinosewak. Now… go back to your cabins, and we'll have lunch in just a little bit."

With their heads hung low, all eleven members of Team Kinosewak stood up and made their way towards the cabin. Little to no conversation was held as they did.

As Chris watched the campers leave, he sent Chef and the interns off as well. Once they were gone, Clucky was the only one left. The host bent down to rub his head.

"Hey, little buddy," he told Clucky. "Thanks for coming today. I enjoyed having you here."

Clucky inspected his face after he said this. She began shaking and her eye twitched. Silent, short noises came from her beak, but they were becoming louder, and more violent.

"C-Clucky…?"

The chicken lunged forward and began to attack Chris by scratching and pecking at his skin. Chris had kept his eyes shut tight, and if he did happen to see something, it was all a feathery blur.

"CLUCKYYYYY!"

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Samey:** "I'm toast! Scott and I are the only people to lose two rounds, but when it comes down to the two of us, I'm going to be the next boot because Scott's going to be considered 'more useful.' I mean… if I do get eliminated, at least I'll be able to finally get away from Amy."

 **Scott:** "I'm aware that I'm in danger of going home. Although I may not be able to gain everyone's trust before the elimination, I may be able to get everyone to target someone else. I won't be able to get Amy's help or else people will suspect me. It'll be tough, but I'm doing this solo."

* * *

 **(Pimâpotew Kinosewak - Girls Side)**

Everybody had already had lunch and dinner, so now all they could do was stay in their dorms and wait; either for the next day, or for the campfire ceremony.

To keep her mind off of Mike, Zoey was looking among her female teammates. Amy and Samey weren't bickering like usual; rather, they were ignoring each other. The mean cheerleader was sitting on their top bunk, examining her nails, and Samey was laid out on her back with glasslike eyes. Samey would normally enjoy Amy's silence, but it was different this time.

Jo was on the ground, doing pushups to pass the time. She had been muttering numbers in the upper double-digits as she did so. Sky, who had a bunk bed to herself, sat on the bottom bunk with her legs crossed. There was a part of her that wanted to join Jo in the pushups, but she prevented herself from leaving her bed. She needed to think about who to vote off tonight.

Jasmine was in a similar situation. She was also thinking about tonight's elimination, but unlike Sky, she wasn't thinking about who to vote off. She was thinking about the fact that one of her teammates would leave Pahkitew Island today, and the effect it would have on both Team Kinosewak and herself.

Zoey was nervous too, of course, but she hated this kind of atmosphere. "Hey, everyone. Do you think we need to talk?"

"About what?" Jo said between breaths.

"I thought it was obvious," Zoey said with a sad tone. "About tonight's elimination."

Samey lifted her head so she could see Zoey at the adjacent bed. "What is there to talk about?"

"I… I don't know… I just thought that with this kind of stuff, we just need to get our thoughts off our chest, you know? It'll just cause less stress for everyone."

Sky groaned. "I'm not stressed. I just don't know who to vote for."

"Well, who are you thinking about?" Zoey asked. A small thought in her brain told her that she was nearing on personal ground.

The athlete sat up, and hopped off her bed. She took Zoey's hand and led her out the door. "Let's talk outside, okay?"

"A-Alright…"

Samey watched as Sky and Zoey left the cabin. She knew what they were going to talk about; voting for someone in the room. In her mind, she thought, _It's me. It's gotta be me._

Sky opened the door, which shut by itself. The sudden noise of wood hitting against each other made Zoey's heart jump a little.

"Okay," Sky said, her voice quiet. "What I say here stays between us, okay?"

"Absolutely."

Before speaking, Sky let out a sigh. "Here goes… who do you think is most likely to go home today?"

Zoey had to think about this before answering. "I guess one of the twins…"

"So… you're going to vote for one of them?"

"Y-Yes… I'm voting for Amy tonight."

Sky grabbed her arm in embarrassment. "I knew it…"

"Knew what?"

"…We're different, Zoey. I don't have a normal mindset."

At this point, Zoey knew that something was wrong with Sky. She put her hand on Sky's shoulder, which was cold to the touch from the evening island air.

"Sky," she asked. "This isn't about voting, is it?"

"Well, I don't know, really. It's more about… okay, let me just explain it."

"Okay, go ahead. Rip the Band-Aid off hard."

"Got it." Sky needed a second or two before continuing. "I'm thinking about voting for Samey."

"Wait… you're not joking, are you?"

Sky barely even shook her head.

"Oh my gosh… but why would you pick Amy over Samey? She's a horrible person!"

"There are plenty of horrible people on this island, Zoey. But in a game like this, where it's teamwork for the first half and competition for the second, we need all the help we can get."

"Oh…" Zoey found herself nodding, but stopped as soon as she realized it. "So you're saying that Amy's more useful in challenges, aren't you?"

"I know, I'm a bad person for wanting a person like Samey out, but if that's how the cookie crumbles, then so be it." The two stayed silent for a while longer, until Sky had the courage to say one more thing.

"I joined Total Drama for the money. That makes friendships second on my list of priorities. Maybe even third. That's how important the money is to me."

"I see… well, I don't know what to say."

"I expected that."

"I don't want to support you, but… I can't say that you're exactly wrong. Samey hasn't exactly done much, but she's trying to be a good addition to our team. You had to have seen that today."

Sky played with a strand of hair from her bangs. "Oh, I did."

"But you know what?" Zoey asked. "Let's just hope for the best. Since we're sort-of allies, and we have opposite views… then we won't be able to work together on this. All we can do is wait. Either way, I'm sure that you'll get really far in this game, Sky."

Sky giggled. "That's my plan."

"I mean it."

Another moment of silence went by, and the girls found themselves hugging.

"Thanks, Zoey. This really helped."

"No problem, Sky."

They released from the hug, and watched the night sky for a moment; listening to all the creatures in the woods. "So, is it okay to vote for Samey?"

Zoey smiled at the athlete. "Even if you vote for me, I wouldn't stop you."

"Really?"

"Sure. Who am I to force my opinions onto other people by telling them who to vote for?"

* * *

 **(Pimâpotew Kinosewak - Boys Side)**

"Okay, guys," Scott told the others in the room. "We need to vote off Samey."

"Samey?" Lightning asked. "She's the goody-goody cheerleader, ain't she?"

"Exactly. The twin that doesn't do anything."

Lightning rubbed his hands together. "Yeah, her! If she don't do anything, then she's gotta go! I'll vote with you, Scott."

"Nice," he said, fist-bumping with the football player, who cried, "Sha-team!" Scott wanted to snicker for the fact that his power of suggestion worked on Lightning, but was able to contain his laughter by smiling.

Brick, Dave and Mike looked at each other, but Brick was the one who acted as their voice. "Wait a minute! Why are you all targeting Samey?"

Scott put his fist on his hips. "Thought we made it pretty obvious, ding-dong."

"You want to say that to my face?" Brick asked, with increasing anger.

"I'm not saying anything to your face! If I get close enough, I might catch stupidity!"

"Guys, guys!" Mike intervened, pushing his hands on both of their chests to separate them. "Let's not fight! Let Brick say what he needs to say!"

Scott scoffed and backed away to give Brick space.

"Thank you," Brick said. "I was going to say that if anything, we need to vote for Amy."

Scott wasn't surprised by this at all, but he still got mad at this. "Why should we?"

"Because you're biased, that's why!"

Mike nodded. "Your crush on Amy is so big, it puts Dakota's ego to shame!"

"Haha, nice one, Mike," Brick complimented, giving him a high-five. "But yeah, Amy needs to go, because I am fed up with her attitude at this point, and the way that she treats her sister!"

Scott gave a small hum as a passive way of saying "okay." Mike continued for the cadet, "Also, you need to get your head in the game and stop wasting time on girlfriends."

"You're one to talk," Scott fired back. "That's pretty much like the pot calling the kettle black."

"What are you saying?"

Scott dramatically threw his hand down to drop the issue and turned away. "Ah, forget it." He sat on his bed and started to whittle with his knife and a small log.

"Besides, Amy's not my girlfriend," Scott objected. "And my head is already in the game. So get off my back."

Brick shrugged to Mike, and they dropped the issue. Nobody talked to each other for the rest of the time they spent in the cabin.

* * *

 **(Waneyihtam Maskwak - Girls Side)**

Dakota and Anne Maria were in the communal bathroom, removing their makeup for the night. Although Ella wore makeup, she had let it smear with her teardrops in the cold cabin. Dawn and Scarlett were still by her side, comforting her from the earlier events.

"Ella, you're not a bad person," Dawn said. "I'm an aura reader, and I would know. Trust me."

The songbird sniffed. "How could I do such a selfish thing?"

"It wasn't selfish," Scarlett said. "This is a game for a million dollars, so it's not strange to play a little dirty. You did what you could, and we don't blame you."

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Scarlett:** "I'm supposed to be a strategist and not let anyone else get in the way of my success, but man… is Ella bringing me down or what? I've gotta get her back to normal, with Dawn's help of course, so all distractions will be out of the way."

* * *

A couple pounds were made at the front door. "Come in," Scarlett answered. Dakota and Anne Maria entered with tired faces free from any makeup, but Anne Maria still had her hair in the same style; poof and all.

"Hey girl," Anne Maria greeted to Ella. "You feeling any better?"

Ella began to tear up again, and as she did, buried her face in her pillow and covered herself up with her new quilt.

"Guess that's a no," the Jersey girl observed. Dakota gave a sad look to Anne Maria before going over to put her toiletries back with her luggage.

Dawn and Scarlett stayed beside Ella's bed. "Do you need some time to yourself?" the moonchild asked. When Ella didn't answer, Dawn looked to her teammates for help.

"Can any of you sing, by any chance?" she asked.

Anne Maria spun around as fast as she could once she heard this. "Oh, yeah, I'm a great singer. It's how I got onto the show in the first place!"

Dawn's interest was piqued. Anne Maria cleared her throat and began belting out with song.

"Oh-oh-oh-oh Vito… we ain't never gonna be apart no more… you make my heartbeat like footsteps on the floor…"

Her voice was horrendous, and she couldn't hold the same note for longer than a fourth of a second. Dawn winced, Dakota covered her ears, and Scarlett simply headed for the door.

But this got Ella laughing a little. Scarlett took her hand off the doorknob to turn around and see her. The songbird revealed her tear-stained face for her teammates to see, and yet she was giggling from underneath her hand.

"O-Oh my," she said while laughing. "What a cheesy comparison…"

Dawn felt relief in her heart as she watched Ella wipe her gloved finger across her cheek. "It's good to see your smile again, Ella. We've missed it."

Scarlett couldn't understand this. "Why did you find that funny exactly? Her singing was appalling."

"Hey," Anne Maria snipped at Scarlett, walking towards her and cracking her knuckles. "You're gonna wanna take off your glasses for this."

The only reaction Scarlett made was holding her hand up to stop Anne Maria from getting any closer. "Ella, your answer?"

"I forgot how amazing singing can be," she answered with delight. "I forgot how music can lift my spirit and make me feel… happy. It doesn't matter whether you're good or bad. All that matters is expressing yourself and having fun, right?" Dawn nodded to this.

Dakota was finally given the chance to speak up. "Hey, can I get a chance to sing?"

Ella gasped, threw the quilt onto the bottom half of her bed, and jumped down to the floor with excitement. "Does that mean we're going to have a karaoke night?"

Scarlett tried to leave the room again.

"No, you can't leave," Ella pleaded, grabbing onto Scarlett's hand. "This will be fun!"

"Trust me, I can't sing."

Dawn joined in this conversation. "Neither can Anne Maria, but here we are." Scarlett sighed as she walked back to her bed to witness the karaoke session. The Jersey girl decided to let that comment go.

"So," Ella asked with present happiness and a pink face. "Has everybody here watched Total Drama: World Tour?" Four heads nodded in the room. "Excellent," Ella told herself.

Her teammates were confused, until Ella stomped her foot on the ground four times at a consistent rhythm to resemble a kick drum. And then she began to sing.

"I left Bridgette stuck to a pole," she sang as the other girls (excluding Scarlett) got excited. "Robbed Leshawna of her fabulous soul, made even Courtney lose control!"

Everybody joined in on the song, except for Scarlett, who did nothing more than tap her foot. "Now I'm gonna leave you wedged up in a hole! This is how we will end it!"

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Scarlett:** "Um… maybe this was a mistake."

* * *

 **(Waneyihtam Maskwak - Boys Side)**

The boys softly laughed with each other as they heard one of Total Drama: World Tour's most popular songs being sung through cabin walls. They were still working on the first bunk bed, and they were almost finished.

"Wow, B," Cameron said as he watched the silent inventor rub a piece of sandpaper onto the new bunk bed he was building. "I'm surprised you did this in just two days!"

Sam and Shawn, who were the only other two helping B, nodded their heads.

"Way to go, B," Shawn complimented.

"Change your name to A-Plus!" Sam commented. B gave them all a friendly smile and continued to sand.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Cameron:** "I would've helped with this part, but I have a pretty major fear of sandpaper. Something about it just makes me think about sanding your own skin off, and I just don't want to mess anything up! Jeez… am I going to stay as this pathetic, good-for-nothing bubble boy _forever_?!"

* * *

Max wasn't helping, for obvious reasons. He was lying on his bed, wrapped up in the new quilt that he had won. "Ooh, it's so warm and comfy," he whispered.

"I know, right?" Cameron said, surprised that he could even start up a conversation with someone like Max. "It reminds me of a quilt that my grandma sewed for me when I was little. Of course I never got to sleep with it because I was afraid that it would wrap around my neck while I sleep and I'd suffocate, but yeah. I still have fond memories of it."

Max began laughing at a loud volume. "That's it! Self-suffocating blankets! I can sell them to the people of the world as an evil prank! B, you must put that on your list of future inventions! I demand it!"

B tried to ignore him, but that didn't stop him from thinking about inventing a self-suffocating blanket for Max.

"By the way," Shawn asked. "How are you going to fix the mattress? You may as well be sleeping on a brick."

B shook his hands, and then pounded a chest to his heart with a grin.

"You're going to take care of it? Cool."

Cameron leaned forward while sitting on his bed. "Hey, Shawn. Why are you helping out with the bed? You didn't even sleep here last night."

"It gives me something to do. Besides, I can't isolate myself from you guys forever." Cameron smiled endearingly, but Shawn wasn't done talking. "But if you guys turn into zombies anytime soon, we're through like _that_." He snapped as he said "that."

"Is sleeping on a tree even comfortable?" Sam asked the zombie survivalist.

"Heck no," he answered without thought. Sam assumed that that kind of knowledge was like a reflex for him. "Survival doesn't come wrapped with a pretty bow. You've gotta earn it. You don't get anything when you take the comfortable route. You get what I'm saying, B?"

The silent inventor understood and nodded to him. If B took the comfortable route, they wouldn't be building the bunk bed right now.

Sam shrugged. "I guess I understand, but… I mean, you're welcome to come sleep in the cabin overnight. I don't want you to feel like you're an outcast or anything. If anything, you're an amazing asset to our team."

Max gasped. "What are you saying? _He's_ the one who cost us island laps every morning!"

"Hey, everybody makes mistakes," Sam fired back, getting a bit defensive.

Shawn cleared his throat to get their attention. "I appreciate the gesture, but I'm not taking any dangerous risks. The zombies will come, and I've gotta keep preparing myself!" He leaned in to whisper in Sam's ear. His voice shook as he spoke slowly.

"They could be here any time, dude…"

*knock knock knock*

Shawn jumped and almost hit his head on one of the bunk beds. "AH!"

B tried to hold back a laugh. He held up his hand and made his way to the door, letting his sandpaper flutter onto the floor. With one hand in the pocket of his trench coat, he used his other to open the door.

"C-C-Careful, B! It could be _them_!" Shawn pled, but B wasn't nervous. He opened the door to find Samey standing on the other side. They both waved to each other politely.

"B," she greeted as happy as she could. "Just the person I wanted to see." B's eyebrows raised as he gave her his full attention.

Samey gulped before speaking, and held up a finger. "Can I speak to you? In private?"

B agreed, and closed the door behind him. Samey looked around the campground before telling him what was on her mind.

"Okay, we're alone," Samey told him. "I need to ask you a favor."

* * *

It was now time for the next campfire ceremony, and for the next elimination. One of these eleven members of Team Kinosewak was going home. Everybody knew exactly who they were voting for, and they were all positive that whoever they were voting for was going home.

The campfire was warm, but scorching hot at the same time. The campers tried finding warmth from the fire, but every time they did, all they received was a rush of heat on their skin that forced them to back up. They all made sure to appreciate their surroundings, as it may be the last time that they do so.

Just like yesterday's campfire ceremony, Chris had appeared fashionably late with his clipboard and marshmallow platter.

"I guess we can all agree that today was pretty intense, yes?" he asked Team Kinosewak. "Seriously, today's episode was so action-packed!"

He looked straight at Mike. "We had betrayals."

He looked straight at Samey. "We had drama."

He looked straight at Brick. "We also had embarrassing secrets revealed, haha!"

The cadet immediately became uncomfortable. "Um, can we vote now?"

"Absolutely. But, rules are rules, and we don't want anybody to screw up their vote or anything, now would we?" The campers groaned as they prepared themselves to listen to Chris's explanation.

"Each member will get a chance to use the outhouse confessional to cast their vote. You will be in complete privacy when you vote, so don't hesitate to lay down some beef on your teammates."

Amy and Samey looked at each other after hearing this. Amy crossed her arms and let out a small laugh. "Aha, you are _so_ going down, Lamey."

Samey didn't speak. Amy saw this as a sign of victory.

Chris continued to explain how voting works. "All you have to do is say the name of who you're voting for. You can also explain why you're voting for them. You don't have to, but it's recommended. The viewers want to squeeze every last drop of drama out of this show!" He enjoyed a chuckle, but nobody found it funny, so he commenced the voting.

"I will call each member to stand up to go vote in alphabetical order. Amy, you're up."

The snooty cheerleader stood up with a short, sassy hum, and strutted off down the forest trail towards the confessional outhouse.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Amy:** "S-A-M-E-Y. C'mon, like you expected something else. She's the worst person in the world, and she needs to be off of this show!"

 **Scott:** "Definitely Samey. (points to himself with his thumb) She's getting' in the way of me and Amy."

 **Mike:** "I know I told everyone that I'd vote for Amy, but I actually want to vote for Scott. I didn't want to tell him in front of his face, or else he might target me or something! So… my vote's for Scott. Not Amy! Scott."

 **Lightning:** "I vote for Samey. She cost us two points during the challenge!"

 **Jo:** "It's time for a little… (thinks) what's the opposite of a family reunion? A family separation! That's it! And when it comes down to the two of them… Samey needs to be the one to go. Amy seems like the more competitive twin."

 **Zoey:** "I could vote for Mike, but… not yet. I want to know what's up with him. So, like I told Sky, I'm going to vote for Amy."

* * *

Zoey left the woods with Chris, sighing. She felt good that she finally got her feelings off her chest, but she couldn't feel entirely great right now.

"Everybody should know how eliminations work," Chris said, assuming that everyone there has watched Total Drama. "If I call your name, you're safe from elimination. I will then give you one of these ten delicious marshmallows here. Go ahead and eat it once you receive one." With a smile, he said. "You've earned it."

"The person who does _not_ receive a marshmallow tonight will be forced to walk the Dock of Shame, and ride the Boat of Losers home. And you can't return… ever." Samey's teeth clenched.

After clearing his throat, Chris looked at his clipboard. "I have all the votes right here. Someone is definitely going home tonight." All eyes nervously shifted from the left to the right, and back again.

"Let's get this over with, yeah?" he asked everyone with an eager voice. "The first camper safe from elimination tonight is…"

…

"Dave."

The boy stood up, and awkwardly made his way over to Chris to receive a marshmallow. He doesn't exactly like walking in front of a large crowd.

"Jasmine."

Jasmine chuckled and sprang up. Before walking over to Chris, she held Samey's hand. "You've got this," she told the cheerleader. They smiled to each other as Jasmine walked away.

"Lightning."

The football player stood up just as fast and as peppy as Jasmine did. "Aw, yeah, baby! Mar-sha-mallow!" As he jogged over to get his sugary treat, the remaining campers gave each other judgmental looks.

"Brick."

Brick stood up and saluted the host. "Thank you, sir."

"Zoey."

"Phew," Zoey sighed. She wiped sweat off her forehead and walked with Brick to get a marshmallow.

"Sky."

Sky gave off a sincere smile as she stood up. Dave watched her as she walked over and told her, "Glad you made it."

"Thanks… you too." Sky tried her best not to give off any mixed signals.

Chris continued with his names. "Jo."

"Good! I can't believe I started to get worried," she admitted as she swiped the marshmallow from the host's hand.

"And… Mike."

The teen stood up, and sighed. Zoey never knew how much emotion could be put in just one sigh. He dragged his feet as he walked over to Chris to get his marshmallow, leaving only two on the platter. He wanted to talk to Zoey, but now wasn't the time.

Chris observed the three campers sitting on the log stools: Scott, Amy, and Samey. "You three were the only ones to receive votes."

Samey wasn't surprised; so hung low her head remained. Amy held Scott's hand and squeezed it tight.

"We're not going, Scott. We've got this in the bag."

"Oh yeah," he agreed, giving Samey a rude stare. "Samey is out of here."

Still, Samey said nothing.

Chris picked up one of the last two marshmallows on his platter and turned it around in his hand. "The second-to-last marshmallow goes to…"

…

…

…

"Scott!"

Scott pushed Amy's hand out of his, and stood up with a smile. Before leaving, he punched Amy on the arm. "Knock her dead." She nodded with complete seriousness.

Chris looked at the group of safe campers; nobody knew which one of the twins was going home today. He made sure to keep the clipboard pressed against his chest so that nobody could see the tallies.

"Campers, or should I say twins… this is the final marshmallow of the evening."

Amy went back to crossing her arms confidently as she listened to Chris's reasons for why she could be going home tonight.

"Amy, your rude attitude towards your sister makes it very hard for you to be likeable among your teammates. You also cost your team a point during the challenge, and forced Samey to lose one as well."

She sniffed as if to say that she didn't care, forcing Chris to move onto the nicer twin, Samey.

"Samey, you have been considered as useless ever since yesterday's challenge, and that opinion stuck for today, as you lost two rounds in today's challenge. Also, that comment you made about having Amy die? Harsh, dude."

Samey tried to defend herself. "B-But I wasn't trying to… I mean, Amy-!"

"Enough," Chris ordered, shutting her up. "Hopefully you can both think about your actions during your time away from each other."

This time, Samey crossed her arms too and wore the same face as Amy. The same appearance, the same stance, the same attitude, the same confidence… personality was the only thing separating the two.

Chris picked up the last marshmallow, threw it in the air a couple times, then dropped the metal platter by his feet. The small vibrations it made once it hit the dirt startled the campers, but Amy and Samey remained still. Nothing could tear their attention away from this moment.

Continuing to toss the marshmallow up and down carelessly, Chris announced, "The final marshmallow of the evening goes to…"

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

"Samey."

Amy's mouth dropped open. Samey put her hand on her heart to relieve the intensity of her heartbeat. "Thank goodness," she whispered.

"Samey, come up and get your marshmallow," Chris instructed, fidgeting with her marshmallow, using his thumb, index, and middle fingers. Once Samey ran over, Chris tossed the marshmallow in the air towards Samey, but it bounced off of her hands and hit the grassy ground below her.

Amy wanted to call her sister a loser for this, but even she knew that she was in no position to call her that. Samey decided to take advantage of this victory by picking up her marshmallow from the dirty ground. Amy's teeth began to grind as she watched her sister pop the marshmallow into her mouth with a smug face.

"Amy," the host announced. "You're the second person voted off of Total Drama Revenge: Pahkitew Island. Any thoughts you'd like to share?"

"Thoughts?!" Amy yelled, waving her hands in disbelief. "Of fucking course I have thoughts! Samey had to have been the loser! Y-You must have miscounted the votes."

Chris turned around his clipboard to show Amy what was on his paper. "Sorry, Amy. Says here that you had five votes, and Samey had four."

"No, no, wait. You definitely counted the votes wrong! I know for a fact that five people, including me, voted for Samey! You've made a mistake!"

The host took one quick glance at his paper. "Oh… oh no no no… I think _you've_ made a mistake, Amy. A big… big mistake! Ha ha…"

Amy stood up and kicked her log stool over with her heel before she began to storm over to Chris. He blocked his face with his clipboard.

"I didn't make ANY mistake! Lamey needs to go home, because who in their right mind would vote me off?"

Chris moved the clipboard away from his face to answer her rhetorical question. "…You."

"M-Me?"

"You voted yourself out, Amy!"

Team Kinosewak broke into thunderous laughter. Samey was even brave enough to belt out joyous giggling that soon became uncontrollable.

Amy started tearing up once she saw Scott; the only person who didn't laugh. "He's lying; I didn't vote for myself! Scott, you didn't vote for me, did you?"

"Of course not! But you're right… Chris miscounted the votes!" To keep his plan alive, Scott stood by Amy's side. "This isn't fair," he begged to Chris, as he pulled Amy closer. "I demand a recount!"

Chris pulled his phone out from his pocket, and pulled up the videos of the confessionals that Chef had sent to him before the votes were tallied. "Since you want proof so badly, why don't we watch Amy's confessional together?"

Amy was certain that she voted for Samey. But seeing Chris pull up a video as evidence made her feel something strange inside… as if she was being set up.

The host turned his phone sideways and faced it towards the eleven teens. He tapped the play button, and they all listened to Amy's confessional.

"A-M-E-Y. C'mon, like you expected something else," Amy said in the video. "She's the worst person in the world, and she needs to be off of this show!"

It started with snickering, but the laughter soon revived itself, as well as Amy's teeth-grinding. "If you claim to be the smarter sibling," Chris advised. "You may want to learn how to spell your name correctly."

"No," Amy growled through her teeth. "That video was tampered with!"

Samey convinced herself to stop laughing to say one thing. "Excuses aren't going to get you anywhere, Amy. You need to learn when to accept defeat."

"B-But…" Amy could say no more. Everyone there had sided with Samey, even the people who voted for her. Scott was the only exception; he had to make his crush seem real until the moment that Amy sets foot in the Boat of Losers.

Chris dropped his clipboard. He used his arms to present the forest trail leading back down to the cabins. "The Dock of Shame awaits, m'lady." Samey had decided to follow suit just to make Amy mad.

Amy growled once again, and got angry enough to punch Scott in the gut. "O-Ow," he cried, bending over in pain. "What did you do that for?"

"I am off this damn island," Amy cursed, heading towards the trail. "And just so we're clear, once I get back home, I'm suing this show!"

All Samey could do was wave her fingers at Amy, sending her off. She scoffed and stomped down the forest trail.

"W-Wait, Amy!" Scott reached out for her, but didn't chase after her. Once Amy was out of sight, he rejoined the group and held his head low.

Then the cheerleader turned to Jasmine and Zoey, and hugged them. "I thought I was done for…" she wept. "I'm so glad that I'm finally free…" Everyone who was watching found the scene touching and adorable. Even Brick said, "Aww."

"I'm glad too," Zoey agreed.

"Congrats, Samey," Jasmine said, rubbing Samey's back to comfort her.

Chris approached the hugging trio. "I agree; congrats to Samey for surviving the vote." The girls let go of the hug to listen. "In fact, congrats to all ten of you for surviving. You will be able to participate in tomorrow's challenge."

Team Kinosewak's members smiled at each other one last time before Chris picked up his things to leave. "See you all in the morning. Just a heads up; expect some drama."

* * *

Jasmine waited a few minutes after Chris disappeared beyond the trees until speaking to her teammates. "Nice work, everyone. Let's make sure to win tomorrow's challenge, yeah?"

Brick saluted, causing Jasmine to salute back with a giggle. "Affirmative, ma'am."

Jo noticed Scott's sad face, and patted him on the back quite forcefully. "What's eating you, woodchopper?"

"What do you think?" Scott answered, his voice replete with annoyance. "It's Amy."

Samey turned to him. "I'm sorry that she had to go. I know you miss her."

This surprised Scott; to see someone talk about their cruel sister without saying one negative comment about them. "Thanks, I guess…" he told Samey.

"Don't worry about it. As much as I hate Amy, I know you really liked her. So if you ever need to talk, I'm available."

Scott lowered his eyebrows out of curiosity. "That's… surprisingly generous."

Something had caught Sky's eye while those two were exchanging words. "Hey, look down there!"

Amy was carrying many bags with her down the Dock of Shame, and Sky had recognized some of them as Samey's bags. "She's stealing your luggage, Samey!"

Samey gasped and was poised to run through the forest trail. "Oh no, she doesn't!"

As Amy crossed the Dock of Shame, she set both twins' luggage inside the Boat of Losers with a petty cackle. "Try winning a million bucks without any clean clothes!" she sneered. "Buh-bye, Samey!"

Chris, who was standing in front of the Dock of Shame, covered his mouth and started to laugh.

"What?" Amy asked the host with growing annoyance. "What's so funny?"

Chris wiped a tear from his cheek. "There's nobody in the boat to drive you off the island!"

"Wh-WHAT?!"

Amy ran to the wheel, turning it frantically. "H-How do you steer this thing?! Get me out of here! I can't let Samey win this time!" Team Kinosewak laughed at the girl from the campfire area with pointing fingers.

"Just get Samey's luggage off of the boat, and I'll take you home in Chef's place." Chris ran down the Dock of Shame and began swiping the luggage that Amy was the most protective of.

"Y-You can't do that!" she cried. "I'm going to leave with the last laugh!"

Samey appeared from the campgrounds and dashed towards the Dock of Shame as fast as she could. "Chris, let me help!" Chris and Samey began to take the nice cheerleader's luggage back from her mean sister.

"Actually," Samey thought out loud. "Let's take it all. Give her a taste of her own medicine."

"H-Hey! Stop that!" Amy screamed. Chris and Samey began to take all bags off the boat, and set them on the Dock of Shame. Samey's teammates cheered from above.

Chris hopped into the Boat of Losers, and started it up. Soon after, Amy was taken away from Pahkitew Island as Samey waved to her from the Dock of Shame. "Bye, Amy! Have a good night!"

"You had _better_ not air this on TV, McLean! I will kill you! I will actually take an axe, and chop off your head!"

Chris didn't take any of these empty threats to heart. He looked back and saw a shrinking Pahkitew Island from the lake. Then, he finally realized what was really going on. "Hey… where is Chef anyways? Wasn't he already supposed to be in the Boat of Losers?"

* * *

B opened the door to find Samey standing on the other side. They both waved to each other politely.

"B," she greeted as happy as she could. "Just the person I wanted to see." B's eyebrows raised as he gave her his full attention.

Samey gulped before speaking, and held up a finger. "Can I speak to you? In private?"

B agreed, and closed the door behind him. Samey looked around the campground before telling him what was on her mind.

"Okay, we're alone," Samey told him. "I need to ask you a favor. It's about tonight's elimination."

B had been tapping his chin as he listened, and then held out his hand as if to say, "go on." The cheerleader sighed, and began to tell B her plan.

"Alright, I have a plan to get Amy off of this island. Are you willing to help me?" To her happiness, B nodded. "Great, thank you. Here's what my plan is." She whispered the rest in his ear.

"I want you to sneak inside Chef's trailer, steal and hack into his phone, and then edit the videos of the the confessionals before you send them to Chris. I want you to edit them so that it sounds like people are voting for 'Amy' rather than 'Samey,' okay? Just crop out the 'sss' sound." B shrugged, like he was asking a question.

Samey knew what he was asking about. "Oh, about the phone? I know that Chef has control over the confessionals this season from an interview I read online." B understood, and nodded.

"But you don't have to do it for all of the people who voted for me. Just enough times to make Amy the majority vote."

B nodded, but then pointed at where Chef's trailer was located. He then moved his arms back and forth to imitate running.

"Oh, you think he's gonna chase after you?" Samey tapped her chin as she thought, just like B did, and then snapped when she had an idea. "I've got it. Just use a stick to prop on the door handle. That way, Chef will be locked inside the trailer until after the elimination." B ran over to a nearby tree, and just like he did with yesterday's challenge, broke a limb off it about the size of a yardstick.

"Perfect," Amy silently cheered. "I had better get going. The elimination ceremony's gonna start soon. Good luck." She turned around, but then a wicked thought somehow found its way inside Samey's head.

"Wait a minute, B," she asked. "You aren't going to go behind my back and turn the votes against me, are you?"

B held up his right hand, and crossed his heart with his left. They smiled at each other; the smiles were similar to the ones they gave each other during the challenge. Samey wrapped her arms around B and squeezed him tight.

"Thanks so much, B," she squealed. B patted her on the back; Samey accepted that as returning the hug. She ran off into the night, turning back to call, "I owe you one!"

* * *

 **Amy -** Samey (Amy)

 **Brick -** Amy

 **Dave -** Amy

 **Jasmine -** Scott

 **Jo -** Samey

 **Lightning -** Samey

 **Mike -** Scott

 **Samey -** Amy

 **Scott -** Samey

 **Sky -** Samey

 **Zoey -** Amy

* * *

Amy \- 5

Samey - 4

Scott - 2

* * *

Elimination Order: Topher, **Amy**

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Amy:** "-A-M-E-Y. C'mon, like you expected something else. She's the worst person in the world, and she needs to be off of this show!"

 **Brick:** "I would rather have a kindhearted lazy person on this team rather than a skilled rude person. Not that Samey's lazy, but we all know that she hasn't done much. But she wants to change, so that's a good thing. I believe in second chances, so I want Samey to stay for tomorrow's challenge. I vote for Amy."

 **Dave:** "Sure, Amy didn't cost us two points during the challenge, but she did force Samey to lie during that one truth question. Her ego is getting in the way of our success, so… yeah. Amy leaves me no choice but to vote for her."

 **Jasmine:** "I know that the heat is on the twins right now, but I honestly don't care. If anyone needs to go on this team, it's Scott. He's planning something; I can sense something sinister underneath that farm stench."

 **Jo:** "It's time for a little… (thinks) what's the opposite of a family reunion? A family separation! That's it! And when it comes down to the two of them… Samey needs to be the one to go. Amy seems like the more competitive twin."

 **Lightning:** "I'm voting for Samey. She cost us two points during the challenge!"

 **Mike:** "I know I told everyone that I'd vote for Amy, but I actually want to vote for Scott. I didn't want to tell him in front of his face, or else he might target me or something! I definitely don't trust that guy… would you? So… my vote's for Scott. Not Amy! Scott."

 **Samey:** "Amy was just awful today... worse than she's ever been! She's getting in the way of making new friends, and she still treats me like garbage! So, yeah. I'm voting for Amy."

 **Scott:** "Definitely Samey. (points to himself with his thumb) She's getting' in the way of me and Amy."

 **Sky:** "I feel like a monster for voting for Samey, but I'm trying my best to make it to the merge. The chain is only as strong as its weakest link. I know that Samey isn't weak… but that's just how the saying goes. She's more useless than weak, but… I hope you know what I'm trying to say. Samey, if you see this, I'm sorry to have to do this, but I have a dream to achieve."

 **Zoey:** "I could vote for Mike, but… not yet. I need to keep him on the island because I want to know what's up with him. So, like I told Sky, I'm going to vote for Amy."

* * *

~xxx~

~xxx~

~xxx~

 _It's finally over! In all honesty, I can't believe that I actually got this far into the story without losing interest like I predicted when I started it. Now, I plan to go all the way._

 _As for the elimination, I'm sure 100% of you are happy that Amy is gone, as well as the fact that Samey got the last laugh. I'm unsure of whether Amy was an obvious choice to go or not just because of her "relationship" with Scott, but if it did trick you into thinking that she was going to stay for a while, then I'm glad that I succeeded at being unpredictable. At least now Samey can continue on with Total Drama without being harassed by her sister anymore._

 _Okay, I don't like Amy as a character, but I actually had fun writing her. I enjoyed thinking of petty comebacks and rude remarks. So yeah, that makes me the only person that's going to miss Amy. Well… partially._

 _Just like Chris mentioned after Amy's elimination, next episode's challenge will be filled with drama. In fact, the next episode will feature the first challenge created by me. And there may or may not be a special guest appearing in the episode… who knows?_

 _The poll has been updated for Chapter 3: A Shock and a Hard Place. Just as a reminder: if you've voted in the poll, you can vote again if you want to change who you want to win._

 _Once again, let me know if you find any errors, whether it be grammatical or regarding the story. Praise and criticism are much appreciated._

 _And that wraps up the second episode of TDRPI. Until next time, stay fresh._


	6. Chapter 4A: Parties? Real Original, Man

**Disclaimer: I do not own Total Drama, its characters, or anything else related to the series.**

 **Warning: Mild cursing and drinking. Not recommended for you guys at home, but hey. You do you.**

* * *

~Author's Note~

 _Thanks to everyone for voting in the poll. This is the first time that everybody received a vote my the poll, so that means that there aren't any overly-hated characters in the competition anymore. *cough cough Amy*_

 _My cold has thankfully passed and I feel a whole lot better now. As I took my break after publishing Chapter 3B, I took some time to plan out the next five challenges, as I had vague ideas in my mind at the time. With that said, I hope that this challenge plays out well._

 _Also, yes, the special guest star will be appearing in this episode, and they are from the first generation Total Drama cast. Because of this, I had to rewatch the first three seasons to accurately capture their personality, as my main focus has been on seasons four through six. So I hope that their representation in this chapter is accurate._

 _To anybody who saw my profile and noticed that the title of this chapter is an anagram, congrats._

* * *

~Replying to Reviews~

 **ShadowJcreed -** Glad that I succeeded at being unpredictable. Yep, the special guest is a former cast member, and I hope you're happy with the one I chose for this challenge. I won't confirm anything about Alejandro or Ezekiel, but let me just say that I want Blaineley as far away from this fanfic as possible. "Bla-Blainerific? N-N-Not this fanfic…"

 **AnonBrowser -** Gosh, if that's not utter hatred towards a character, then I don't know what is! But the Amy/Scott relationship wasn't the farfetched part. I had this plotline where Samey would be mistaken for Amy just like in canon Pahkitew Island, but I ditched the idea as it was pretty stupid. Now that she's gone, I can safely announce that Amy did in fact have feelings for Scott. As for Scott liking Amy… guess we'll have to find out, won't we? Yes, multiple guest stars will appear throughout the story just like in Revenge of the Island.

 **Patrick the Fan** , **Jss2141** , and **xtremexavier15** **-** Hallelujah, she's finally gone! Thank you all for your support.

 **Fear The Darkness Inside -** Oh… I guess I'm not the only person who's (partially) sad to see Amy go. I guess I'm in a strange grey area there.

 **DSX62415 -** Indeed. Amy's got spirit, but she sure as hell doesn't have a soul.

* * *

Now, let's begin Episode 3 of Total Drama Revenge: Pahkitew Island!

~xxx~

~xxx~

~xxx~

(Chris narrates the summary)

"Last time, on Total Drama Revenge: Pahkitew Island!"

"We sure did have a fun time yesterday! In the challenge, many campers were forced to tell destructive truths and perform even more destructive dares! And if they didn't, they received a shocking punishment! Haha! A weeping princess known as Ella won the challenge for her team, but unfortunately, that meant that our team of powerhouses, Team Kinosewak, had to vote somebody off the island."

"Since they both did poorly in the challenge, our very own cheerleader twins, Amy and Samey, were the two main campers Team Kinosewak had their eyes on. With the help of Samey's new friend B, she was able to cheat her bratty twin sister Amy off of the show. This elimination left Scott down in the dumps, but hey. I'm sure he'll recover quickly. He faked his affections, after all!"

"And let's not forget how Samey got revenge on her sister by stealing her luggage. That... was... priceless!"

"Hmm... I wonder if today's challenge will be just as dramatic as yesterday's. Why not stay and find out? On Total... Drama... Revenge... Pahkitew Island!"

(theme song plays)

* * *

 **(Waneyihtam Maskwak - Boys Side)**

It was a peaceful morning. The sunlight peeked into the cabins with thin strands of golden that were easy on the eyes. The birds outside the cabins weren't chirping, allowing the campers wake up naturally.

That isn't to say that they _did_ wake up naturally, though.

*BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG*

All four heads shot straight up at headache-inducing speeds. Chef was on the other side of Team Maskwak's cabin door, continuing to bang until he received an answer. After a minute or so, Sam was the one who was willing to get out of the comfortable new bed that B had crafted to answer the door.

"Uh, Chef?" Sam spoke as he climbed down the ladder of B's new bed. "We're awake, can you stop knocking now?"

A grunt was heard through the wood, as the knocking ceased. "I want everyone outside for your morning lap, now!"

"Great," Sam replied. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, and then ran back to his luggage to change into his usual clothes.

B was in the process of getting out of bed, but he still had his regular clothes on. None of the boys in the cabin seemed to have a problem with his decision to do this. Max would seem like the kind of person to object to this kind of thing because of B's clothes becoming dirty overnight, but he decided not to be hypocritical as he was too tired to change into his sleepwear yesterday evening.

Speaking of the purple-haired boy, he was fast asleep and he had spread out his new quilt so that there weren't any creases or folds. His thumb was in his mouth, but he spoke in his sleep. "N-No, I command you… don't you steal that from me, I'm just a weak little…" B woke him up by slapping his face without a second thought. "DAH! How dare you wake me from my slumber, you silent beast? I was having a grand dream where I was taking over the world!"

B shrugged and left Max to get ready for their morning lap.

Cameron used his quilt as a cocoon of sorts, and you could barely see his face. Sam had patted him on the back to wake him up. It scared him awake, but he was awake nonetheless.

"Ugh, what was that pounding noise?"

"We've gotta go do our lap again," Sam informed the bubble boy. "And Chef won't stop until we're all out of here."

Cameron pushed the quilt-cocoon off of his body and rolled out of bed. Seriously, he rolled out of bed and landed on the floor. "Remind me again why I signed up for this show," he said, his voice muffled from the floor.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Cameron:** "Two nights ago was my first time spending the night outside of my bubble! Thankfully, I was able to recreate it with the blankets that we were provided with, but with the warmth of these new quilts, I felt much safer! As bad as it was to convince myself to fall asleep for these past two nights, I'm sure it was nothing compared to how bad Shawn has it."

* * *

 **(Waneyihtam Maskwak - Shawn's Tree)**

The camera showed the trunk of a tall oak tree. It slowly panned up the tree, zooming in as the cameraman spotted Shawn. He was sleeping on the highest branch that looked supportive for a human body. His leg was tied around the branch with a rope so that he wouldn't fall off, and his other leg was dangling freely.

The camera swung around back to the ground to reveal Chef tossing a small stone up and down.

"You're not really going to hit him, are you?" the cameraman asked with fear.

Chef smirked. "The kid won't mind. I won't knock him over or anything; he's tied to the tree, remember?"

"Okay," the cameraman answered. "Carry on then." He never even doubted Chef's throwing skills for a second.

The shrill sound of a bird interrupted them. It was a small grey bird that flew right into Shawn's chest. Shawn awoke immediately and, by instinct, clapped his hands around the bird.

"Gotcha, you undead freaks," he called out proudly. He then looked at the feathery mess in his hands. "Wait, what is that?" He let go of the bird, and watched it plummet down to the earth as it his every branch in its path.

The cameraman looked at the corpse of the bird and ran away screaming, dropping his camera in the process.

"Oh," Shawn whispered. "I hope Ella didn't see that… OW!" The stone had hit him on the cheek. He looked down to see Chef with his buff arm extended towards him.

"Chef Hatchet?" he asked, rubbing his face. "Do you mind?"

The man folded his arms. "Of course I mind, you need to accept your punishment and run laps!"

"Well, I'm awake," Shawn told himself, untying the rope around his leg. "I may as well get warmed up for the day."

He rolled the rope up into a circular bundle, and then fell off the tree in an instant.

* * *

 **(Waneyihtam Maskwak - Girls Side)**

Before waking the male members of Team Maskwak up, Chef followed the rule of "ladies first." Four out of five girls were already awake, and scrambling about to find suitable running clothes. The other girl, Scarlett, was awake as well, but she decided to run in her everyday clothes (minus her green sweater), and therefore, wasn't as frantic.

"I can't run in these jeans," Anne Maria whined, tossing clothes out of her suitcase as if she was a dog, scraping dirt from the earth. "And I didn't pack any running shorts! Anybody got a pair that I can use?"

Dakota found a pair of pink athletic shorts from her luggage and held them up with joy. "Finally," she said, running behind one of the bunk beds to change.

"Ahem," Anne Maria coughed. "Didn't you hear me? I need some running shorts!"

"Um, no way am I giving you any of _my_ clothes! You'll just stretch the waist!"

Ella had picked two blouses of two different shades of pink, and held them up in front of her chest to show Dawn. "Which one do you think looks cuter on me, Dawn? Cherry blossom, or carnation?"

"That doesn't matter," Dawn replied, swiping one of them away to throw back with Ella's clothes; she didn't care which she took away from the girl. "We need to hurry up, or else Chef will get angrier!"

Anne Maria found a pair of scissors and began cutting the legs off of one of her capris. "Did you find that out from your aura-reading mumbo jumbo?"

"No," Dawn answered, brusquely. "It's just common knowledge."

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Scarlett:** "And to think that I once considered Anne Maria to be a worthy ally. Heh heh… but seriously, I need to find someone else. My main ally at this point is Max, but no way is he going to last long in this game. I need an ally 'understudy,' so to speak. But my options are not limited to my teammates. I can create an alliance with someone on Team Kinosewak for when I get to the merge."

* * *

Ella was left with the cherry blossom-colored shirt, and began to slip it on. She cleared her throat and began to sing as she pulled a pair of pink tennis shoes out of her bags. "Ah, cherry blossoms, the flower of anew. When spring blends with summer, the cherry…"

"Please quit that," Scarlett urged, covering her ears. "Last night was bad enough."

"Hmph." The songbird crossed her arms at Scarlett, but dropped the issue quickly. "All ready," she announced to her teammates. "I'll meet you all outside!"

Scarlett, Ella, and Dawn walked outside and waited for the other two girls to finish getting ready. All of the boys were standing in front of the cabin with Chef, prepared to run another island lap. Despite being woken up second, the boys got ready much quicker than the girls did.

Chef seemed unamused once he saw only two girls appear from the girls' side of the cabin. "Where are the other two?"

Scarlett forced a giggle to make the situation seem lighter, so that Chef wouldn't punish them for slacking. "Oh, you know us girls. Always caring about our looks, and whatnot."

"Funny," Chef replied, tapping his foot. "I don't seem to remember giving any instructions that involve your appearances."

Dawn stepped in front of Scarlett to intervene. "No, we're serious. Dakota and Anne Maria are very obsessed with their appearances. I didn't expect an unmarried man like you to understand women like us anyways."

"Wha-?!" Chef stomped forward and pointed at Dawn. "Who said you could say that, you mind-reading punk?" he whispered strongly.

The moonchild held up her hands and forced a laugh like Scarlett. "No, no, I'm only joking. You're actually a very wealthy man who's been married four times."

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Dawn:** "…No he's not."

* * *

Chef nodded and walked away. "That's more like it." When Chef turned his back, Dawn and Scarlett fist-bumped.

After a minute of waiting, Dakota and Anne Maria finally exited from the cabin. Dakota was wearing her everyday clothing except for the only differences being pink shorts and pink tennis shoes. Anne Maria had walked out of the cabin as if she was the world's most famous supermodel; but in actuality, her bad craftsmanship with scissors made her pants look old and torn. Some of the boys giggled behind their hands.

"Oh, I know, babies," Anne Maria replied. "These legs are just precious, ain't they?"

Everyone nodded; nobody meant it.

"Alllll-right," Chef shouted, standing at attention with his hands behind his back. He looked at all ten campers in front of him; taking attendance by counting aloud. "Just like yesterday, you will run around this island for no longer than thirty minutes. Am I clear?"

A chorus of "Yes, Chef's," and "Yes, sir's," came from the crowd with no unison whatsoever, but Chef accepted this. "Now go, and if you don't make it back in time, you don't get breakfast!"

All ten campers ran off to the sandy part of the island and began to run alongside the shore. However, Shawn stayed back for a second to speak with Chef.

"Hey, Chef," he said. "Sorry again for stealing my supplies… they're important, you know?"

Chef tapped his chin to think, but then he surrendered and patted the boy on the shoulder. "I'm glad you stood up for what you believe in, but that don't mean that you can sit out from laps! Go finish your lap in less than ten minutes and I may consider forgiving you for taking back your bag."

Shawn adjusted his dirty toque (from falling off of the tree) and gave a cheesy grin, prepared to run as fast as he could. "You mean it? Thanks, Chef!" As he ran off, he called out with many voice cracks, "I'll do you proud!"

Chef chuckled to himself as he walked over to a nearby bush. Hidden behind that bush was Shawn's camouflage backpack, with his zombie survival supplies inside. After making sure that nobody was around, Chef entered the boys' side of Team Maskwak's cabin and placed Shawn's backpack in the center of the room. He smiled, and closed the door behind him as he left.

* * *

 **(Pimâpotew Kinosewak - Girls Side)**

Sky awoke peacefully, as she outstretched her arms with a soft humming voice. The bed was not at all comfortable, but she had already begun to get used to it. She planned to sleep in that bed for a while.

The athlete lay on her back for a while as she played out a conversation in her head with herself, about whether or not she wanted to get up.

Once she finally did, she noticed that Zoey had been lying on her back as well, but she was fully dressed. Her eyes were open, but she had that strange ghost-like look about her face that made her look unconscious.

"Zoey, I didn't know you were awake," Sky spoke softly, as to not disturb Jasmine, Samey, or Jo from their sleep.

The indie girl rolled on her bed towards Sky. "I've been up for a while."

"And you're already dressed, too. You didn't change before you went to bed last night," Sky observed.

Zoey made a passive noise that Sky took as lazy frustration. "You weren't trying to go anywhere, were you?"

"Okay… I'm not even going to try to deny that. I wanted to go talk to Mike."

Sky's eyes widened. "M-Mike?"

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Sky:** "Yeah… I've kind of wanted to talk with Mike too. Just to clear things up about his crush on Zoey. But I really don't need to get involved with this, especially not with Zoey knowing about it. I want to protect Mike's crush on Zoey, but I want to help her as well. And then I need to help myself by not getting too involved with any drama. I just don't know what to do now…"

* * *

Zoey nodded, finding the strength in her bones to get up from her bed. "The way he treated me yesterday was unacceptable."

"The way he treated you?" Sky got up as well, and put both hands on her shoulders. "No, he's not treating you badly. He's just playing characters. Isn't that what Jasmine said?"

Zoey grabbed her wrist and played with her bracelets. "I don't know about that… it was like he was… a completely different person, don't you think?"

"No, that's not what I think. He doesn't hate you; he just takes his acting a bit too far. I'm sure if you ask him, he can stop acting as Vito."

The pigtailed girl shrugged. "That's what I want to do, but… I just don't think I'm ready to talk to him about it. I don't know if it's all a joke or not, but I don't know what to say to something like this." Sky nodded to agree with her as she spoke. "I got dressed and was about to leave to talk with Mike, but I chickened out and ended up on my bed. I just needed a minute to think."

Sky took her hands off of Zoey's shoulders. "I understand. But I'm sure either way, Mike still likes…" Her hands immediately covered her mouth. "I-I mean, he doesn't hate you."

"Uh, Sky? Are you feeling sick?"

She let out a small burp, but kept her mouth covered. "Y-Yeah… I've gotta go!" Sky took for the door and once she was outside, she walked away so Zoey couldn't find her.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Sky:** "I didn't actually throw up; I just needed to get away from that conversation. That was _way_ too dangerous! I can't believe I was stupid enough to almost reveal Mike's secret crush on her! Thankfully, it doesn't seem like she suspects anything. I hate to say this, but for the time being… I'm going to need to spend less time with Zoey. About Mike, however… he's another story."

* * *

 **(Pimâpotew Kinosewak - Boys Side)**

The booming sound of Sky slamming the door shut awoke Dave. "Wh-What was that? Is there a wild animal out there?"

He zipped to the door, and slowly peeked through the crack as he opened it. There was no wild animal in the campgrounds; it was just Sky walking in front of their cabin. "Phew," he told himself. "Morning, Sky!"

The athlete was in the middle of talking to herself silently before noticing Dave. She kindly waved to the boy and continued to walk, having no intention of starting a conversation with him.

But Dave wanted just the opposite. He poked his head out of the door to talk with her. "What are you doing up this early?"

"Oh, I just needed to take a walk. I'm just a bit stressed about some things, and I need to clear my head."

Dave walked out onto the porch and leaned on the rail with his arms crossed. "Sorry to hear that." An idea popped into his head that made him want to jump for joy, but he contained his excitement the best he could. "Would you like me to keep you company?"

The athlete looked at Dave and blushed with embarrassment.

"What?" Dave asked, getting nervous. "What is it?"

She covered her mouth for real this time, as she pointed at the boy. More specifically, at what he was wearing. Even more specifically, at what he _wasn't_ wearing. The only thing on the boy's body were grey boxers.

"Ah… AHHH!" Dave ran inside as he covered his crotch and hid behind the door. "I'm really sorry, I just forgot to…"

But Sky couldn't stop herself from laughing. "Ahaha… oh man…!"

"U-Uh… how about I get dressed first?" Dave asked with a shaky voice. "Then we can walk together."

Sky found his smile flattering, but she wanted to refuse. However… did she really want to be alone? ...Who cares, anyways? Talking it out with someone she trusts would make her feel better.

"…Yeah, you can come along."

Dave wanted to celebrate with a scream, but once again, he restrained himself. "Alright, cool. Give me a couple minutes." The athlete replied with a friendly giggle as she patiently waited for him to get dressed.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Sky:** "I think he's just using this walk as a way to get closer to me. If he does mention anything about liking me, I'll just have to turn him down. Politely, that is. I just wanted him to walk with me so I'd have a friend with me. I'm actually pretty thankful that Dave offered to accompany me; crush or not."

 **Dave:** "YES! Yes yes yes yes YES! She actually agreed to hang out with me! Okay, first thing's first. Deodorant… check. Sanitized hands… check. Confidence… double check. (he brushes off his shoulders and hits his hand on the side of the outhouse) GAH! Um… make that single check."

* * *

"H-Hey, where's…?" Mike had just woken up before the others did only to notice that Dave wasn't in his bed. "...Dave?" The boy then began to wake his teammates up, starting with Brick.

"Brick, wake up!" he told him, pushing and pulling on the cadet's arm. "Dave's missing."

Brick gasped and sat up in almost no time. "Missing?" he repeated. "You don't think he was taken by the enemy, do you?"

Mike chuckled, and then held out his hands to calm Brick down. "Brick? This is Total Drama, not cadet school…" Brick was confused, but he still rubbed his eyes to fully wake up. Mike assumed that he had just interrupted a war dream.

Scott was awoken from Brick's loud voice. "He still could've been taken by Team Maskwak, as a prank."

His response was enlightening, but Mike didn't trust Scott. "You wouldn't know anything about Dave's disappearance, would you?"

Scott shrugged with only his shoulders and lay back down. "I wouldn't care either way."

Brick was offended. "What kind of attitude is that? Dave's our teammate!"

"He's our most expendable teammate," Scott stated, making Brick gasp. "Who cares if he's gone? It wouldn't affect us in the slightest!"

Scott had also made Mike mad by saying this. "You shouldn't be saying that about him. Don't forget that he won the first challenge for us."

"Yeah, by luck. Why do you even care about Dave anyways?" Mike opened his mouth to answer, but Scott interrupted him. "No. I want Brick to answer that."

"Fine," he said, standing up from his bed in his sleepwear. "All human life has value. So nobody's expendable!"

A loud groan came from the dirt farmer as he turned over in his bed. "Figured you'd say something to that extent. And PS: I… don't… care."

Mike patted Brick's back with a face full of nervousness and sympathy. Brick picked his hand off and marched to his luggage to dress for the day.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Brick:** "Of course I'll stand up for Dave. I live by the cadet code: never leave a man behind. That doesn't apply just physically, but mentally as well. I'd never abandon or belittle any of my teammates for victory. Wait… but what happens if the man leaves _me_ behind, rather than _me_ leaving a man behind? Hmm…"

* * *

 **(Pimâpotew Kinosewak - Girls Side)**

Jo was the last person to wake up out of Team Kinosewak's female members. Jasmine and Samey were getting ready for the day, while Zoey was still lying on her bed, glumly staring at the bottom of the top mattress. With a grand yawn, Jo rolled over and noticed a missing teammate. "I see... Sky wimped out of today's challenge, huh?"

"She's just taking a walk," Samey informed, brushing her hair.

The jockette huffed as she stood up to stretch. "Wasn't very smart of her. I expected a smart-looking athlete like her to know better than to exercise on an empty stomach."

Jasmine's face seemed to light up as she hit her palm with a fist. "That's right, I almost forgot. I was planning on picking berries again this morning. Samey, would you like to come?"

"Absolutely," the cheerleader answered. "And this time, you-know-who won't try to rat us out."

"Exactly."

Jo didn't even bother to change out of her sleepwear. She just slipped on a sweatshirt and sweatpants and she was set. "Wait, are you talking about Amy?"

Samey turned around to face Jo. "That name isn't exactly welcome here, haha." Despite the fact that she was laughing, Samey made it clear to Jo that she doesn't want to hear her sister's name.

"Eh, alright. I get it."

Jasmine took her hat that was resting on the top of a post on her bunk bed. "Zoey, I don't suppose you'd like to come with us?"

The indie girl lifted her head. "I appreciate the gesture, but not today... I'm just not feeling up to it right now."

"Are you sure? We could be able to find some orange trees somewhere; I know they're your favorite."

Zoey groaned lazily, even though laziness wasn't the reason why she turned down the offer. "No thanks. Maybe tomorrow..." Jasmine walked around the bunk bed that she shared with Zoey to hold her hand tightly.

"Feel better soon, okay Zoey? If you want to come find us, we'll be in the woods behind the cabins." Zoey nodded. "In the meantime, you can stay here with Jo."

The jockette ran her fingers through her hair and spoke to Jasmine. "For your information, I'm no therapist."

Jasmine shrugged and walked with Samey towards the door.

"Wait," Jo called after the two girls. "As team leader, I don't think you should go pick berries."

Samey wanted to say something, but left it to Jasmine like usual, who started off by respectfully laughing at her statement. "First of all, who said you were the team leader?"

"I did," Jo answered pridefully. She received nothing but blank stares.

"Okay then," Jasmine muttered. "Secondly, why don't you want us to pick berries?"

Samey crossed her arms, showing Jo that she was siding with Jasmine. "Yeah, would you rather us eat Chef's disgusting slop bagels again? I'm sure berries are healthier." The cheerleader had hoped that her comment about health would help change Jo's mind.

Unfortunately for Samey, it didn't. "I'm sure they are, pom poms. But I don't care. If you two go out to pick berries, you'll miss the challenge briefing at breakfast! And I for one don't want to waste time by having Chris explain today's challenge twice, like yesterday."

"We won't take long," the Australian girl told her, hoping that she would understand. "We'll just search for about ten to twenty minutes. Deal?"

The jockette thought about it for a minute as she watched the hoping faces of both Jasmine and Samey. "Ugh, alright, fine. You can go pick berries."

"Yes," Samey quietly celebrated as she opened the door for Jasmine.

"But you had better be back when Chris announces breakfast," Jo called out; the slamming of the door interrupting her sentence. With some time to spare, Jo lay back down on her bed to wait for the breakfast announcement.

Zoey couldn't help but ask the jockette a question. "If you don't mind me asking, do you not like Jasmine and Samey?"

"I don't _trust_ them, if that's what you're asking."

This made Zoey sit up to fully engage in the conversation. "Okay, I understand why you may not trust Jasmine, but why don't you trust Samey? She's such a kind, pure-hearted girl."

"That's exactly why I don't trust her. She's too nice."

"What does that mean?"

"She could be hiding something, you know."

Zoey scoffed. "That's not true..."

"Isn't it? Don't you remember Amy's elimination last night?"

"...What about it?"

"Amy said that she voted for Samey, but Chris said that she voted for herself. He even showed us Amy's confessional to prove it!"

"So why are you skeptical of Samey if Chris gave proof of Amy voting for herself?"

"Dunno... it just feels off."

Zoey decided to drop the conversation there, and they both laid back down.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Jo:** "I actually _am_ skeptical of Samey for a reason, I just didn't want to tell Zoey about it. Because if I did, then she might try to target me for targeting Samey. But is everyone on this island an idiot?! Amy's dumb, but she's not dumb enough to incorrectly spell her name like she did in last night's elimination ceremony! Amy's elimination was rigged somehow, and I'm sure that Samey has something to do with it. I've got to get that cheating little mistake off of this island!"

* * *

About twenty minutes later, everybody met up in the dining hall; that is, except for Jasmine and Samey. Jo rested her chin on her hand and tapped the desk with all five fingers of her other hand. "Where are they?" she asked impatiently.

"Don't worry, I'm sure they'll be here soon," Zoey told the jockette.

Jo rolled her eyes. "Whoo, you've got _way_ too much faith in people, girl." Zoey gave a cross stare at Jo before beginning her bowl of gruel. She was sitting across from Mike, but they tried to avoid as much eye contact as possible.

On the way to the main lodge, Zoey and Mike had tried to talk to each other, but decided to save it for a better time. Mike barely knew anything about what happened yesterday with Vito, but he hoped that Zoey didn't think any less of him. He sighed and stuck a bite of gruel in his mouth with his spoon. Back into the bowl it went.

Dave was happier with today's meal, because of no memory foam-like buns. He was also glad that Sky opened up to him this morning, and hoped that his lifted spirits lasted throughout the day. Sky was also happier that she got to walk and talk with Dave, however she began to see him as a true friend. But just like with Mike and Zoey, they didn't exchange many words.

At Team Maskwak's table, things were just as quiet. Because of fatigue and hunger, they all had to stomach the disgusting flavor of the gruel just to get some "food" into their system. Shawn looked back at the door with a despondent face and sighed. "Guess Jasmine's not coming to breakfast again..."

"Why should you care?" Scarlett asked the zombie survivalist, pointing to him with her spoon. "She's on the other team."

Shawn leaned in to whisper to Scarlett, not caring if any of his teammates listen in. "I've actually got a thing for Jasmine." He noticed Ella opening her mouth to "aww," but Shawn shut her up instantly. "Don't make that noise, you'll catch their attention," he silently ordered, referring to Team Kinosewak.

"Oh, sorry," Ella apologized as she hummed a soft, low-pitched melody that sounded like a lullaby.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Scarlett:** "At least I've finally figured out why Shawn was so worried about Team Kinosewak yesterday during breakfast; because of Jasmine. A simple crush is fine, but if he tries to help Jasmine's team later, then he needs to leave."

* * *

Two knocks were heard at the door, where Jasmine and Samey stood. "Hope we didn't miss too much," Jasmine said as the two girls sat down at their team's table.

"You do realize that you're late, right?" Chef asked from behind the counter, holding two bowls of gruel.

Samey held up her hands to calm Chef down. "W-We don't have to eat, if that's a suitable enough punishment for us being late," she suggested. If Chef agreed to this punishment, he wouldn't know that Jasmine and Samey had already ate blueberries and nuts for breakfast.

But Chef growled with fury. "I made this gruel for you... now EAT IT!"

They both stood up and responded with "Yes, sir!" Their enthusiasm when they shouted in unison clearly didn't match their (lack of) enthusiasm when receiving their bowls of gruel.

"Ugh," Samey said, looking at her bowl. "It's bubbling..."

Brick smiled as Samey sat back down. "Don't worry, it's delicious." He and Chef saluted to each other with chummy grins.

"I highly doubt that," the cheerleader replied, as the cadet belted out a friendly laugh.

After taking a couple bites of her beige-colored gruel, Jasmine looked up at Shawn to notice that he had been watching her. They smiled to each other, but Shawn had been smiling ever since Jasmine looked up. The Australian girl shifted her eyes back to her disgusting meal and chuckled.

"Haha, honestly," she said to herself. "What a strange little guy..."

Chris walked in with a small silver glockenspiel and mallets in one hand, and a glass of a clear drink in the other. He set his stuff down on Chef's counter, and gave Chef the mallets. He played the four notes on the glockenspiel with the mallets from lowest-to-highest pitch. All campers were confused by this, but knowing Chris, they just let things play out.

"Good morning boys and girls," Chris announced. "And welcome to the most drama-inducing challenge of this season _yet!_ "

"It's only the third one," Anne Maria countered with a smug face. Chris decided to ignore her. "Today, I am both proud and delighted to announce the theme of today's challenge. Tonight, we're going to prom!"

Dakota gasped with joy and squealed. "Prom?! You guys have got to be kidding me!"

"How marvelous," Ella added. "I can't wait!"

Zoey, Mike, Sky, Dave, Sam, Dakota seemed to get nervous, thinking about what might happen tonight. But Jo wasn't the least bit happy. "Prom? Are you joking, McLean?"

"What? I thought you guys would be all over this theme."

The jockette threw her hands in the air as she spoke. "I don't get all the fuss about prom anyways! The frilly dresses, the lovey-dovey slow dances, the cliché part of the movie where the bowl of punch spills on the fancy tuxedo and ruins it... it's all overrated anyways." Everyone, even Chris and Chef, were speechless to Jo's rant.

"And what's more," she continued. "Why are you all so happy about this? This isn't an actual prom; it's a challenge on the show you're currently in!"

Not many campers had taken this fact to heart once Chris announced the prom theme, so they were left in thought.

Jo nodded, now that everyone was on the same page. "Yeah, ever consider reality checks? They'd sure be useful."

Scarlett raised her hand to ask a question, making Chris facepalm. "Raise your hand once, shame on you. Raise your hand twice, shame on me. Raise your hand a third time, shame on my will to live. Does that sound good to you? _Does it?!_ "

"Relax," Scarlett teased. "Now I'm just doing it to get on your nerves. I was just going to ask about how this challenge works."

"Excellent question, Scarlett. Raise your hand again and I won't compliment your questions anymore."

"Deal," Scarlett agreed stoically.

Chris took a sip of his drink before explaining the challenge. "For this challenge, you will have to pair up with someone on your team, but of the opposite sex. Since there are five boys and girls on each team, this challenge works out perfectly." He eyeballed every camper before asking his next question. "Is everybody here straight?" Everyone nodded, with curious looks. "Okay, _now_ it works out perfectly. After breakfast, you guys will get the chance to pick your clothes for the prom. And then tonight, the real challenge begins."

"Me, Chef, and a special guest will be the judges of this challenge."

Zoey looked interested. "A special guest? Who?"

"You'll see soon enough. At the challenge, you guys will be dancing on the dance floor. Us judges will judge you on how good your dance moves are, and how determined you are to win."

"Wait, but I can't dance," Brick piped up. "That seems like an unfair advantage to those here who actually _can_ dance!"

"No worries, this challenge is easy compared to the last two," Chris reassured the cadet. "There are three phases to this challenge: the line dance phase, the electronic phase, and the slow dance finale. In the line dance phase, five couples will be knocked out. In the electronic phase, three couples will be knocked out. This leaves two couples left to battle it out in the slow dance finale. The last couple standing gets their team the win, as well as a much-needed prize!"

Lightning rubbed his hands together with determination. "Aw, yeah! Lightning's gonna take this W as easy as pie!"

"Glad to get your hopes up," Chris said as he picked up his drink. "That concludes today's morning announcements." He pointed to Chef, who played the four notes on the glockenspiel from highest to lowest. Then, Chef began to play random notes at a fast rhythm. Chris muted the sound by slamming his hand on the instrument while giving Chef a mean stare. Chef played one more note before damping it, so that Chris wouldn't get mad.

Dawn put her spoon down to ask Chris a question. "If I may ask, what is in your glass?"

"Just water," Chris lied.

Scarlett adjusted her glasses to get a better look at the host's glass. "I'm afraid that isn't water. The liquid seems to be leaving an oily texture on the sides of the glass before slipping back down into the full drink."

Chris smiled, unsure of what to think. "Meaning... what, exactly?"

The redhead nerd's grin morphed into a devilish one, and she tapped her chin to seem smug.

"You're drinking vodka, aren't you?"

All campers were both surprised and amused by this. Chris's eyes widened with fear as he slowly walked towards the door; passing through all the laughter as if it were thorns on the side of a narrow path.

Zoey was laughing so hard that she slapped her forehead. "Hahaha, wow... that wasn't smooth at all!"

"Hehe, yeah," Mike agreed, trying to talk to Zoey for once. "I'd like to see that part get aired on TV."

Chris was still at the door, listening to everyone laugh at him. "I heard that," he told Zoey. "Also, meet up at the Dock of Shame after breakfast. We have a trailer set up there with your selection of prom outfits!" Most of the girls squealed quietly after hearing this, but all the boys groaned.

* * *

The campers had already picked out their outfits for tonight's challenge. They were also given a break to wait for the right time to hold the challenge; at sundown, when the sky turns golden lavender, and eventually, midnight blue. Just like with the dodgeball challenge from Total Drama Island, a gymnasium had been made out of glass walls. All campers were wearing their prom attire as they waited for Chris to enter the gymnasium.

Zoey was wearing a red dress to match her hair that she let down; the dress shone in the setting sun. Sky, who wasn't too excited about prom in the first place, chose maroon for her choice of color. She thought that this was a mature color. Her hair was also tied up in a bun. Samey liked the idea of wearing a wedding dress, but she was too shy to speak up about it so she just picked a white dress with a short skirt. Either way, she loved it. Jasmine had trouble finding a dress that could fit her tall figure, but eventually found a frilly forest green dress that she liked. The frills only went down to her knees, but she still looked very pretty. She kept her hair in its usual style, and discarded her safari hat. Jo had selected a plain grey dress with a flat short skirt. As much as she wanted to wear her sweatshirt and sweatpants, she couldn't. Wearing dresses were mandatory according to Chris, so with the help of Chef Hatchet, she got the skirt sewn together in a way that looked like short pants. She received many strange looks, but she didn't care. She was here to win, not to look pretty.

Mike decided to go classic with his tuxedo; black with a red tie. He had put a thornless rose in his tuxedo pocket that he found in the woods after breakfast. Dave wanted to keep it casual, but be showy at the same time, so he selected a deep purple tuxedo with a black tie (he had also assumed that Sky liked purple). Much like Zoey, Scott stayed true to his hair color and wore an orange tuxedo. Brick wanted to wear something even more formal than just a tuxedo, so he picked a white jacket with golden shoulderpads, and black dress pants without a single speck of dirt on them. He made sure to bring his leather army boots as well, and to keep his love for military, he wore a camoflauge-colored tie. Lightning was wearing a white tuxedo with a yellow tie. Although these two colors didn't really work for him, nor did they look good with each other, Lightning selected these two colors because they resembled the color of... you guessed it, lightning.

Ella obviously chose a pink dress to wear tonight, and it was quite similar to her usual clothes. The top of her dress was almost identical to her blouse, but the bottom part of her dress reached her heels, and had long strands of fabric draped from the waist. She was complete with cherry-red lipstick and candy-colored blush. Instead of her hairband, she wore a small silver crown. If you thought she looked like a true princess before, you ain't seen nothing yet. Unlike Ella, Scarlett decided not to go all out with her clothes, and just picked a plain lime green frilly dress instead. She didn't remove her glasses, or her hair tie, and she applied no makeup. Dawn had her hair tied up in a ponytail, and wore a thin lavender dress that covered her legs. The beautiful dress flowing with fabric was complete with a glittery surface. Dakota would have picked Ella's dress; that is, had she not laid eyes on a short dress with golden sequins. It was even a bit... revealing... at the chest area, but she didn't care. She was a model, after all. Anne Maria decided on a long blue dress with thick ruffles at her ankles. She never considered that they might get in the way of her dancing, but for her, looks are everything (as long as she approves of it anyways, as clearly shown from this morning's scissors incident).

Sam was originally going to pick a black tuxedo, but had to choose a sky blue one because none of the black ones fit him. He wasn't entirely happy with his final choice, but he was sure that the tuxedo would grow on him. There was one black tuxedo that was larger than the rest, but that one was chosen by B. His tux included fancy coattails unlike the other ones worn in the room. It wasn't buttoned up, however; not because it was too small, but B liked jackets better unzipped to store items inside of them, so he followed suit with tuxedos. Shawn was in a similar dilemma with Sam as he couldn't find a tuxedo. Not because of wrong sizes; he wanted a suit to represent his obession with zombies, but the best he could come up with was a blood-red tuxedo. He even got a compliment from Sam because of his tux, so he kept it. Even if he couldn't dance with her, hopefully he could get another compliment from Jasmine. Cameron was the only boy in the gymnasium who didn't wear a tuxedo. He wore a white button up shirt, black dress pants, a red vest, and a black bowtie. He felt like this outfit was more familiar to him than a tuxedo. The only tuxedo that could fit Max's round yet short figure was a sky blue one that took the term "sky blue" much more literally. Cloud patterns were pasted all around the suit, and a white cravat was attached with it. Max actually quite liked the clouds on his tux.

He had just finished telling Sam that he liked his tuxedo pattern. "Um... why?"

"Because, it's _symbolism_!" Max was proud for some reason.

"Uh... sure thing. Whatever floats your boat."

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 ** **Max:**** "Hmph. _Some_ people just don't appreciate me for my clever symbolism! See, my tuxedo is the sky... so as I dance in it, I am controlling the sky!"

 **Sam:** "I'm not buying this symbolism junk. If anything, I want to believe that Max liked his tux just because he's actually a delusional seven-year old trapped in a teenager's body. Come on, you've got to admit that it's believable."

 **Dave:** "Well, it's time. I've just got to keep my eye on the prize for this... I've been waiting for a moment like this ever since I met Sky! We'll win this for sure, and maybe we can even start dating after tonight! (he thinks for a minute) That is, assuming that Sky and I get paired up together. I hope she doesn't pick anyone else..."

 **Ella:** "Tonight is the big night... the evening that I find my true prince!"

 **Jasmine:** (she has her legs bent low while standing up to avoid sitting on the toilet) "Gosh, it's hard to stand up in here. Anyways, about the challenge. I'm not too worried, because I know I'll get paired up with either Lightning, Brick, or Scott. C'mon, it's too obvious that Mike and Zoey are going to be a couple, as well as Sky and Dave. But with the remaining three boys, I just don't have that kind of connection with any of them. If Chris let us partner up with someone from the other team, I'd really like to get with Shawn. He's cute, kind of hilarious, and he does seem to take a small liking to me... maybe just a little." (giggles)

 **Shawn:** "It sucks that I won't be able to dance with Jasmine tonight. Talk about missed opportunities. But I'll be fine! ...As long as I don't get paired up with Ella. She's more attracted to me than a horde of zombies around Albert Einstein!"

 **Zoey:** "I've been thinking about whether or not I should pair up with Mike. After yesterday's events, should I really give him a second chance?"

 **Scarlett:** "Um, yeah... I can't dance. It's safe to say that I'm screwed."

 **Sky:** "Yep... I know exactly what's going to happen once we pick teams. Dave's going to pick me; I just know it."

 **Scott:** "Let's just say that I'm not exactly happy right now. Since this isn't a physical challenge with any element of danger, I can't target anyone! Not even on our team! How are you supposed to sabotage someone's _dancing_ _?_ And what's worse, people were finally starting to see Amy and I as a real couple! Then she had to go and get eliminated the day before the prom challenge... I can promise you, only one kiss would be enough to make her my pawn. Now all that's out the damn window!"

 **Lightning:** "The other teams should be worried, but you know who else should be worried? The lucky, lucky girl I get partnered up with! Lightning's about to strike harder than before! Sha-Lightning!"

 **Cameron:** "I'll be fine as long as I don't make it to the slow dance round. Boys lead in slow dances, so if I make it that far, Chris will assume that I'm strong enough to spin my partner without falling over! I know Dawn said that I'd get my chance to shine, but... today is _clearly_ not that day. Guess I'll just have to try my best."

 **Jo:** "Yeah, I know. (puts her foot on the toilet seat to show the camera her sewn-together dress) I look like a freak. But who actually gives a damn? I'm not Anne Maria, people. Golden medals over golden tans."

 **Anne Maria:** (she squeals and steps in the outhouse with glee) "I actually don't have anything to say! I just thought that you guys might want a close up of my dress. I know, aren't I just so generous?" (she stands up and continues to pose for five minutes, but the camera fast-forwards through it all)

 ** **Brick:**** "For moments like this, I never pass up a chance to look my best. I just didn't want the others to know that I was excited to pick our prom outfits. The pants-wetting thing was bad enough..."

 **Dawn:** "I feel bad for all the boys who pretended to act mad when they were actually thrilled about dressing up for the prom. Dave and Brick, I'm onto you."

 **B:** (takes off his hat, brushes a comb through his dark hair, then smiles at the camera)

 **Samey:** "I sure am excited... and I have a good feeling about this challenge, too. The line dancing phase should be a piece of cake, since it's just like my cheerleading dances! Electronic shouldn't be too hard, and slow dance... well, I've never actually done that before. Guess it'll be all up to luck then."

 **Dakota:** "Finally, a challenge that I can get behind! No cliff dives, no sharks, no shock collars... just pure attention to moi. This challenge is _so_ mine. (waves to the camera) Get ready, Dakota fans!" (blows a kiss)

 **Mike:** "Even if I don't pair up with Zoey, I'm still going to screw this up somehow. What if my tuxedo comes off randomly, and Vito reappears? That'd be really bad... or maybe Svetlana could appear, or Chester, or Manitoba... *sigh* Let's just get this overwith. The only thing that's going to get me through this challenge without switching personalities are prayers."

* * *

Chris and Chef had just arrived to the gymnasium, and walked to the front, where a table was set with three chairs. On the opposite side of the gym was a table with a purple paper tablecloth; on that table was a bowl of fruit punch, chocolate chip cookies, pretzels, and a veggie tray. Chris was wearing the blue suit that he wore for the Gilded Chris Award ceremonies from Total Drama Action. Chef also wore the outfit he wore for the Gilded Chris ceremonies; a hot pink transparent dress with a necklace and earrings both made out of diamonds. Nobody dared to ask if Chef was forced to wear this outfit or not.

Chris took the middle chair, and Chef took the closest one to the door. The third chair was for the special guest.

"Welcome campers," Chris greeted, kicking his legs onto the table for comfort. "You all look very snazzy tonight."

"Why, thank you," Max said with a polite hand gesture, making the others snicker.

On the table that Chris was sitting at, there was a small remote, just like from yesterday's challenge. However, this one was a bit different. There was a red button, as well as a joystick. Chris had caught B staring at this remote and held it up for everyone to see. "Ah, are you all wondering what this is?"

"It's a remote, doofus," Scott sneered. "And you had better not be shocking us."

"Yeah," Anne Maria agreed. "This dress is way too nice to get messed up from your psychotic show!"

Chris held up his hands. "Relax, campers. This challenge is in no way dangerous. It's 100% raw drama!" The campers were tempted to sigh from relief, but held back because of Chris's comment about drama.

"This button doesn't shock you guys, unfortunately. I-I mean fortunately." He ignored the cruel stares from the contestants and continued. "This button is for activating a red spotlight." The host pointed to the glass ceiling, where a spotlight was set up. "If a judge doesn't like a couple's dancing, then we can use this joystick to move the red spotlight onto said couple. If you find yourself dancing underneath this crimson light, then you're eliminated from the challenge!"

"Hey, that reminds me. Who's the special guest?" Sky brought up.

"Yeah, are they here yet?" said Cameron.

Chris's smile faded from devilish to genuine, as he became increasingly excited to reveal who the special guest is. "Actually, yes. They are here." He took his cell phone from his pocket and dialed a number.

"Hello? Yes. Please send the special guest to the glass gymnasium. It's time to get our groove on," he said with a smirk.

The campers could only imagine who the guest was. But thankfully, Chris cleared up some of the suspense by giving them a revealing introduction before they entered. "The guest is on their way. I could only let this person come visit today, because who's more perfect for this challenge than Total Drama's funkiest dancer?"

Most campers already knew who this guest was, and saw them slowly walking up to the glass gymnasium.

"Please give a loud round of applause to today's guest star... Leshawna!"

The door slammed open, and there she was.

"Hey, y'all," the teenage celebrity greeted, waving to everyone with a hand on her hip. "Leshawna is back in the house!"

The campers had prepared to fake their applause to be polite, but after seeing _the_ Leshawna strut through the glass door, they couldn't hold in their excitement any longer, and clapped away. Their hands were beginning to hurt, but they didn't care.

B was the first person Leshawna approached. "Hey, how you doin'?" she asked the inventor, giving him a high-five. "Lookin' sharp, my brother!" As Leshawna walked away, B's cheeks took a soft rose color.

Leshawna continued giving high fives to the most friendly-looking contestants. "Yeah, that's right, that's right," she shouted.

All this excitement got Lightning a little too hyped up. When Leshawna held out her hand to high-five Lightning, he slapped her hand as hard as he could.

"Oww," Leshawna yelled, rubbing her hand. She raised her eyebrow and looked up at the football player with an arrogant look. "And just _what_ do you think you're doing?"

"What?" Lightning laughed. "Lightning gives hard high-fives."

Leshawna tried to force a smile as she made her way towards the judges table. "Good to know, playa boy."

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Zoey:** "Wow... just wow! Leshawna was one of my favorite contestants from Total Drama, and to meet her in person is just... incredible! Granted, she did give me a hard high-five that put my hand to sleep, but... it's still incredible!"

* * *

Chris pulled out the remaining chair for Leshawna to sit in.

"Chris? A gentleman?" Leshawna jokingly asked as she sat down. "Who are you and what have you done with the real host?"

The host chuckled at Leshawna's joke, and took a seat beside her. Chef leaned forward to wave to the girl, and she laughed at his clothes.

"Hahaha, looking fabulous as always, Chef," she complimented, crossing her arms. "Man, that outfit sure does bring back TDA memories."

"All set, Leshawna?" Chris asked.

The sister shrugged. "As ready as I'll ever be."

"Perfect." He then faced the campers and crossed his arms onto the table in front of him to get comfortable. "Alright campers, now it's time to pick couples!"

Eyes looked back and forth among their fellow teammates, as wild thoughts flew through their heads about who would pair with who.

"Remember, your partner must be on your team, but also of the opposite sex. After you've picked your partners, come meet with me and I'll write you two down as an official team for this challenge!"

"And... go!"

Before Chris said "go," Dave had already made his way to Sky. She noticed him coming, and wanted to roll her eyes, but didn't.

"S-So, Sky... would you maybe want to..."

Sky wanted to refuse. So badly.

Dave held out his hand as if he was explaining something, but he was still trying to find the right words. "C-Cuz I was thinking that we could... w-we could do..."

She took his hand.

"S-Sky?"

The athlete nodded. "Yeah, let's be partners." Dave's lovestruck mindset expected a kiss, but all he could do was smile idiotically at her. Thankfully, she broke the awkward silence quickly. "Are you ready to win this?" she asked, forcefully squeezing his hand.

"Y-Yeah, let's do this... o-ow."

"Awesome. Let's go tell Chris."

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Dave:** "D-Did that really just happen?! I-I feel like singing, screaming, dancing, and vomiting all at the same time! Is that normal?"

 **Sky:** "I wasn't sure if I wanted to be Dave's partner or not, but then I started thinking about something. Dave's going to want to make me happy so he can win me over, right? So if I just motivate him, then we should be able to win easily! My sister always said that anything's possible if you just set your mind to it!"

* * *

As Sky and Dave walked up to the judges' table, Zoey and Mike looked at one another; reading the other person like a novel through naive, vulnerable eyes.

"You look beautiful, Zoey," Mike told the girl as a way to start up small talk.

She smiled, but it was only a half-smile. "Thanks, and you look very handsome. I-I like your rose."

"It's not that special," Mike said with modesty. "It's just a flower I found in the woods." He picked it out of his tuxedo pocket and held it up for both of them to see.

And then an idea formed in his head.

"Your hair looks very nice," he complimented. "But it looks different without your flower."

Zoey didn't say anything to this. She wasn't sure what he meant by this... until Mike lifted the rose up and stuck the small stem through her blazing red hair. "There we go. That looks much better."

The girl gasped and felt the flower on the side of her head. "Oh, Mike, I'm sure it's beautiful but... you didn't have to do that. It was a part of your outfit after all!"

"I don't mind, honest," he admitted. "You look stunning either way." Zoey covered her mouth to giggle.

Mike took a deep breath before saying this. "Consider this as an apology gift."

Zoey's stare became serious, but there was something in her eye that told Mike that she was willing to listen.

"I really didn't know what I was doing back there with Anne Maria... my acting, it's almost like it's not even me doing the acting. I don't even have control, and..."

She put a finger on her lip.

"Zoey?" The girl held out her hand.

"If you'll be my partner, then all is forgiven."

Mike's eyes were beautiful fireworks, illuminating a somber midnight sky. "A-Are you serious? I don't deserve this..."

"H-Hey, I didn't deserve the rose," Zoey joked. "So now we're even." They both laughed together, as Mike held her hand with a strong grip.

"Okay," he spoke with a heavy breath. "Let's do this."

* * *

"We have our first two couples," Chris announced to the campers. "Our first couple is Sky and Dave, and our second couple is Mike and Zoey! Who will be next?"

Sam had built up enough courage to ask Dakota. She was pretty far away from him, so he took advantage of this by doing a "cool walk." Or in other words, slowly marching with high knees and stiff, swinging arms. His walk attracted a lot of attention, and Dakota eventually noticed him approaching her.

"Sam, what are you doing?" she asked, weirded out.

He tried to keep it cool, even though he knew how bad his walk was. "Dakota, would you like to go to the dance with me?"

"Uh... _that's_ what you chose to wear to the prom?" Dakota didn't mean to ignore his question. Once she's focused on something related to fashion, it's hard to get her back on track.

"Um, sorry if you don't like it, but I thought it looked good on me."

Shawn was one of the people to notice Sam's awkward "cool walk," and he overheard everything the two said. He thought to himself that this was the time to intervene.

"Hey, Dakota," he said, stepping forward. "What's the matter with Sam's tux?"

Dakota stuck her fists on her hips and leaned forward with sass. "Baby blue doesn't mix with white, especially not with clothing. That only works for baby showers, people!"

"So you're just going to reject him for wearing that? That's really shallow of you."

"I'm not shallow, I'm just giving him my opinion!" She paused, realized she made a big mistake, and then spoke shakily. "W-When did Sam ask me to be his partner?"

Sam pushed Shawn to the side. "Just now. I wanted to ask you to dance, but apparently, you care more about the armor rather than the warrior." He turned around, hoping that he didn't seem too harsh. "Maybe I'm making a mistake..." he told himself.

"Wait, Sam," Dakota called out, running towards him. She ran so expertly with high heels on, you couldn't even tell she was wearing them. "I'm really sorry if I hurt your feelings... I really like having you as a friend, and you're one of the closest friends I've ever had!" Sam still wasn't buying this.

"I still have a lot to learn about myself, okay? I'm struggling with this... and I really don't mean to hurt you. If you'll give me a second chance, I'd love to dance with you."

Sam listened to Dakota's sweet, smoky voice with full attention, and felt the genuine pain in her statement. But he just didn't have it in him to leave Dakota after hearing all that.

"Y-Yeah, I struggle with social skills sometimes too..." Sam admitted. "Maybe we should try to help each other out with that."

"You mean, like, build each other up or some junk?"

"That's exactly what I mean." They both smiled.

But Dakota's smile didn't last long as she watched Sam walk closer to her.

"I don't care what you're wearing," he told her. "I would still go to the prom with you, no matter what. W-Would you feel the same?"

Dakota meant her apology, and kept her promise true. "Yes, definitely. So, are we a couple for this now?"

"Looks like it. Come on, let's go sign up."

As Sam and Dakota walked over to the judges' table, the contestants behind them began to clap for the two.

Sam couldn't help but chuckle along with their applause. "Hehe, stop it guys, you're embarassing me!"

The zombie survivalist was proud of Sam for giving Dakota a second chance, and he was also glad that Dakota opened up to him and publicly admitted her mistake. He thought that it would take a whole lot of guts for a model to say that on television. _You know,_ he told himself in his head. _They both have their quirks and flaws, but I can tell that they're going to get along great._

Once he finished thinking about his friend, he began to think about who he would be paired up with, since Jasmine was out of the picture. With Dakota taken, four girls were left as options: Dawn, Scarlett, Anne Maria, and... ugh... _Ella_. Anne Maria seemed like the kind of person to say that she's good at dancing, but in reality, she'd be awful at it. Despite Scarlett's intelligent mind, Shawn didn't think that she knew what dancing was. Maybe he could partner up with Dawn. She looks like she knows a little about dancing, and she might be able to use her aura-reading abilities to help him win. He wasn't sure how, though... his thoughts had no choice but to grasp at straws like this what with Shawn having very few choices.

 _Guess that means I'll be dancing with Dawn tonight,_ he thought. He strode up to the moonchild with a cool head... until he felt a tap on the shoulder. He swiftly turned around to see the last thing he wanted to: pink.

"Good evening, Shawn," Ella greeted with a shy voice.

"Hi, Ella... you look good."

"Why, thank you. I was just wondering... would you mind if I accompanied you tonight? For the prom?"

He had to stay polite so he wouldn't hurt Ella's feelings, but if Shawn could roll his eyes, he'd roll them so far back into his head that you wouldn't be able to see his pupils. "A-Actually, Ella, I was going to see if Dawn..."

Shawn heard Dawn's voice just now, and stopped speaking to eavesdrop.

"I sensed that you would come visit me," she cooed, placing her hand on B's chest to feel his heartbeat. When she saw B's scared face, she took her hand off of his heart and placed it on her own. "Relax, I'm only joking. I'd love to dance with you, B."

B held Dawn's hand as the two made their way towards Chris. Shawn sighed, and turned back to Ella.

She had a sneaking suspicion that Shawn didn't like her, but she cast this suspicion aside. "What were you trying to say?"

"F-Forget about it. Let's go sign up as a couple."

Ella covered her mouth to gasp. "Do you really mean it?"

"Sure, I guess."

"How marvelous!" The songbird cleared her throat to begin singing. "Oh, joyous occasion-"

Shawn put his hand over Ella's mouth to shut her up. "Just... no singing. Please."

"Oh... I suppose that's alright..."

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Ella:** "I've always thought that Shawn didn't like me, but it's clear to me now that my singing gets on his nerves. I thought that my dream of finding my prince would finally come true tonight, but what if I made a wrong decision coming to Shawn? He may not like me after all. Maybe I should have waited for my prince to come to me."

 **Shawn:** "Quick reminder to you couch-warmers out there. Shawn plus Ella... equals uh-uh."

* * *

Jasmine watched as Ella and Shawn walked over to the judges' table. They obviously didn't seem to have that much of a connection, and Shawn looked quite displeased as he told Chris who he was partnered with. There was nothing she could do except move on for tonight.

Just like she had predicted, Mike and Zoey became a couple, as well as Sky and Dave. This left her with Scott, Brick, and Lightning. Unlike Shawn, Jasmine was able to make this decision pretty quickly. She pushed a strand of hair off of her forehead and went to go ask Brick to dance.

* * *

"Okay, look," Scarlett told Max. "We're clearly the outcasts of our team, so we're going to have to be a couple."

Max cringed at that last word. "E-Evil does not date! Do not bring me down to such a level, sidekick!" The redhead ignored this and continued to try to persuade him.

"We're not dating, Max. It's just for the challenge."

"But still, dating and dancing are practically on the same level!"

"...Right. But we need to pair up. It's the only logical thing to do."

The purple-haired boy raised and eyebrow. "And why is that?"

"Who else would be your partner? We're the only people who know each other's goals and motivations. If anyone else found out, then one of us would be voted off."

As if he had never discovered what brains were used for, Max gasped loud enough for people to think that he was hyperventilating. "You're right! So then we truly _must_ be partners!"

Scarlett nodded with satisfaction. "As your sidekick, I promise to aid you throughout this challenge. I trust you'll do the same for me?" Scarlett expected a calm agreement, but what she got was much more surprising.

"Since when does the evil master do anything for the evil sidekick?"

"R-Right. Guess I'll do all the work, then."

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Scarlett:** "Interesting... the support between the two of us is not mutual. Then I'll just have to accept my place as the sidekick if it means keeping Max's trust. But if things go too far, then I can easily toss him off of this island."

* * *

The two evil "geniuses" has just finished their conversation and left when Cameron ran up to them. "No... I was going to ask Scarlett to dance!"

It wasn't until Anne Maria appeared that Cameron realized who he was talking to. "What? You have a crush on Scarlett or something?"

"No, no, I just wanted to be her partner because we're both beings of intelligence! With our powers combined, I'm sure we'd be an unstoppable force!"

"That's cute. And not in the good way."

Cameron crossed his arms at her. "Well."

A brief moment of silence passed by until the haunting thought finally hit Cameron.

"Wait... we're the only people left on Team Maskwak."

Anne Maria's eyes widened more than they physically should. "W-Wait, then that means that...!"

...

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

All three judges laughed at the scene in front of them. Both Cameron and Anne Maria were on their knees, screaming towards the sky in denial.

"Wow, what a touching moment," Chris sarcastically annotated. "We have Team Maskwak's final couple! Now it's just down to Team Kinosewak." He looked at the remaining four campers to list their names. "Samey, Jo, Lightning, and Scott. Who will choose who?"

Lightning looked at his three fellow teammates. "Well, obviously I'm gonna choose the cheerleader."

"O-Oh, really?" Samey was genuinely surprised by this, as she was usually the last pick for most activities at school.

"Yeah, really," Lightning repeated, locking arms with the cheerleader. "C'mon, let's go." As he passed Scott, he whispered in his ear. "Sorry to leave you with a dude, bro. Hope you don't mind."

Jo's mouth dropped open, and Scott hit a hand to his face. "You know what?" Scott asked with an annoyed tone. "I'll dance with Samey."

Lightning's face took an expression of offense as Scott pulled Samey away from him. "H-Hey, you can't do that! First come, first serve!"

"Um, actually, Lightning," Samey piped up. "I'll be Scott's partner. You can be with Jo, okay?"

"Oh, you actually wanted to be my partner too?" Scott asked the girl. "Okay, then. That works out fine then. Chris, sign me up with Samey."

"Gotcha," Chris answered, pointing to the farm boy with his pen.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Jasmine:** "Um... did I hear that right? Samey _wanting_ to pair up with Scott?! Are we sure that Amy isn't pretending to be Samey or anything?"

 **Scott:** "No, I'm not trying to get Samey to like me. I meant what I said; I'm not going to keep flirting with girls over and over again. That's exactly what Alejandro did last season, and sure, he got far, but he didn't win! I'm only partnering with Samey because I want to know what she's all about. There's something about her that just feels off, and I'm going to find out what it is."

 **Samey:** "I'm surprised that Scott wanted to be my partner. That usually never happens with guys! But this is a good sign, because I've been wanting to make amends with Scott ever since Amy left the island. I don't want to date him or anything, but this could be the perfect chance to make things right. Who knows, maybe we'll even become good friends once this is over!"

* * *

Scott held out his elbow for Samey to hold. After briefly blushing, the cheerleader took his arm and let him lead her to the side of the faux gymnasium, where the other eight couples were standing.

This left Jo and Lightning standing in the dead center of the gym. "What are you standing around for, meat head?" she scolded, grabbing his arm to drag him towards the others. "We have some dancing to do."

"Whoa, you sure are eager to dance with a dude, ain't you? It's okay, Lightning don't judge." Jo found it useless to try to correct him.

Leshawna didn't know what to make of this situation. She had never seen any part of this season yet, so she didn't know about Lightning constantly mistaking Jo for a boy.

Now that all ten couples were established, the couples spread out across the wooden floor. Ella wanted the judges to pay close attention to her dancing, so she ran over right in front of the judges' table. "Look, Shawn! Why don't we dance here? The judges should get a good look at us from right here!"

"No," Shawn objected, holding her by the wrist. "We don't want to dance right in front of the judges, or else they'll catch more of our mistakes and we'll get eliminated from the challenge!"

Ella politely shook her head. "Don't you worry, my prince. I took ballet when I was four, and now I can dance to pretty much anything."

"First off, don't call me your prince. That's just awkward. And secondly, for your information, I never took ballet! So I don't know how to dance!"

The songbird noticed his breathing becoming more intense with anger. She gasped as she tried to think of what to do to calm him down, but thought quickly and grabbed his hands. "Please don't worry. Line dancing is very simple, and anyone can do it."

Shawn had no choice but to agree with her. "We want to win this challenge, don't we? Then... I guess I'm going to have to trust you on this."

"You'll do great, Shawn. I believe in my teammates."

The zombie survivalist snickered. "Even Max?"

"Of course I believe in him!" Ella told Shawn, putting her hands on her hips. After a pause, she dropped her arms by her side and looked down. "Well... not very much, but still!"

Leshawna leaned up in her chair while she eavesdropped on the two's conversation. "Wait, line dancing?" She immediately started tugging on Chris's sleeve. "Chris, you gotta let me go out there and dance with them! It's what I was born to do!"

The host watched as Leshawna started jerking her shoulders to a beat, and pointed up and down to mimic a popular disco dance move. He just sat speechless before interrupting her. "I invited you here as a judge for this challenge, so that means that you have to judge! Not dance!"

"B-But I'm bootylicious!" she whined. Chris merely shook his head. Now Leshawna was getting angry.

"The only reason you invited me to be a judge was because I'm the best dancer from the original cast! Isn't that right, white boy?" she shouted to his face. All couples went silent.

Chris held up his hands. "Up-up... it's white _man_ ," he corrected.

"Does it look like I care?"

"Do you want to get paid or not?"

Leshawna's silence made Chris raise his eyebrow; he had won this battle. The sassy sister sat down with a huff.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Leshawna:** "Yeah, it sucks, but... five bucks is five bucks, you know?"

* * *

"Thank you," cooed the host, as he turned to the ten couples in front of him. "Looks like we're all set to begin today's challenge! Leshawna, since you're this episode's special guest, what line dance song do you want our couples to dance to?"

"Easy," Leshawna answered, snapping. She didn't even have to think for this one. "Cotton Eye Joe, baby!"

Zoey clapped her hands, but not loud enough to attract too much attention to herself. "Sweet, I love that song!"

"That old song about the cowboy?" Mike asked the girl. "Yeah, that's a good one." In his mind, he was saying, _Chester don't you dare, Chester don't you dare, Chester don't you dare..._

Samey turned to her ginger-haired partner. "It's a song about a cowboy, huh? I'm glad I'm your partner, because that means that we'll get further into this challenge!"

"Wha-?! What's that supposed to mean? I'm a farm boy, not a cowboy!"

"Relax... I was making a joke." Samey lost her smile, and they impatiently waited for the music to start.

Jasmine never really talked to Brick after she had asked him to dance, so she took this opportunity to do so. "Thanks for being my partner, Brick."

"You're very welcome," Brick politely said. "It's an honor to be working with such a respected individual among our team."

The Australian girl found herself laughing. "Thanks, that's really high praise... you're actually quite respected as well." She leaned down to whisper in his ear. "If I'm being honest, it feels like our team is crawling with ruthless athletes and the like. We need all the leadership we can get, yeah?"

Brick nodded. "Definitely. The boys on our team don't seem to have much respect for authority."

"Tell me about it. Just this morning, Jo decided all by herself that she would be the team leader."

"Oho, don't get me started on Jo."

"Sure, she's got strength, but I don't think she has good leadership qualities."

The conversation seemed to stop there, until an idea popped into Brick's head. "I've got it! What if we split the leadership among our team? I'll take care of the boys, and you get the girls. Sounds good?"

"Brilliant," Jasmine agreed, fist-bumping the cadet. "Just a fair warning, I'm not the best dancer in the world..."

"That's no reason not to try, though. Let's both do our best. You never know; we might have a chance at winning," Brick advised.

"I hear that, mate," Jasmine said. Shawn noticed the two's conversation, and began to feel a bit jealous of Brick. For having a good partner, and for being partners with Jasmine. _What if_ , he thought, _Jasmine starts to have a thing for Brick?_

* * *

Ever since Leshawna suggested to play Cotton Eye Joe over the speakers, Chef has been fiddling with the electronics underneath the table to get the sound to work.

"Hey, what's the hold up, Chef?" Jo asked with her arms up in fury. "I'm getting bored over here!"

Chef was quick to retort. "Then you will continue to be bored until I'm done!" Not too long after he said this, the song began to play from the speakers on the ceiling.

"Okay," Chris announced, grabbing everyone's attention. "Chef and I will demonstrate how this line dance will work." The two walked over beside the table and stood in front of each other. The host waited for the fiddles to come in, and then danced with Chef while annotating to the beat of the song.

"Right, right, right, clap. Left, left, left, clap. Lock your arms then run around, switch directions, do it again. Spin your lasso, spin your lasso, stomp, foot slap, stomp, foot slap, touch their palms then run around, switch directions, do it again." He repeated the dance and the directions so that the campers could remember the dance easier.

Anne Maria raised her hand, but unlike Scarlett, didn't wait to get called on. "Uh, wait a sec! I can't remember that!"

"Don't worry, Anne Maria. You can just follow the other contestants, or get eliminated trying. Your choice."

She scoffed, but turned towards Cameron with determination. "Ugh... that host is so stupid. You ready to win this, Cam?"

"I guess so..."

Chris and Chef sat back down at their table and got comfortable. "Now, let's get this prom started!" Chris shouted to the camera, pointing at it with both hands. The host clapped his hands to begin the challenge. "Five, six, five six seven eight!"

All three judges watched as the campers tried to remember the line dance. Zoey and Mike had both remembered the first half of the dance, but they danced to the second half of it with very little confidence. Most other couples, such as Sky and Dave, Jo and Lightning, Anne Maria and Cameron, and Max and Scarlett had a lot of trouble with this as well. Chef reached for the remote to flash the red spotlight onto a certain couple, but Chris slapped his hand to stop him. "Give them a minute," he ordered. "Then we'll eliminate some couples."

Scott was having difficulty, but Samey had no problem remembering the routine. "How are you so good at this?" Scott asked, looking down at his feet to get the steps right.

"I'm a cheerleader, remember? Not to pat myself on the back, but I remember dance moves like these pretty well," she answered with a smile.

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. Do you want me to help you with it?"

"No, no... let me follow your moves. I'll get the hang of it soon," Scott told her, insisting on purposefully messing up.

Cameron was breathing heavily as he skipped in a circle with Anne Maria, while locking his arm with hers. "I don't know why... I'm having so much trouble with this... I should be good at memorizing things... quickly..."

"I don't know what's up either," Anne Maria added. "I'm a great dancer, but today just isn't my day!"

Cameron took some time to look at Anne Maria's dancing, and respectfully disagreed in his brain.

"Just keep doing what you're doing," he suggested. "We'll get it soon, and then-"

He was interrupted by a buzz, and a red light right over him.

"WHAT?!" Anne Maria shouted. "Already? It hasn't even been a minute!"

Chris held up his watch on his wrist. "Uh... it's been three minutes, Anne Maria."

"UGH!" she screamed. Cameron put his hands on her shoulders to calm her down. "Hey, Anne Maria... we did fine. Let's go over and get some punch, alright?"

"Fruit punch?" Anne Maria asked, trying to ease her anger. "Well, okay... as long as it doesn't end up on my dress, I'm fine."

The host watched Anne Maria and Cameron leave the center of the gym, and stopped them in their tracks. "Hold it, you two! The concessions are for after the first phase! We'll let you know when you can eat."

"Great..." the Jersey girl huffed. She stormed over to a grey folding chair on the side of the gym. "Tonight just keeps getting better and better."

Cameron took a seat next to her. "Hey, it's not all that bad."

"What makes you so sure, Cam?"

The bubble boy rubbed his hands together. "Now we get to watch everyone fail at dancing!"

"That doesn't sound fun." Cameron shook his head and pointed at Scarlett and Max walking around each other in an awkward circle. After seeing Max's forcefully but unintentional wide steps, she couldn't keep her laughter in.

"Hahaha! Wow... what a sucker!"

Max overheard the two. "We can hear you, you pasty-faced baboon!"

Leshawna set the remote back down on the table with a sad face. "I feel bad for the little dude, but whoo-whee, was that dancing awful or what?"

Scarlett kept dancing with a shocked face. "Since they've already eliminated the first couple," she suggested Max with a tense voice. "We'll need to step up our game."

"B-But this is tricky..." Max whined, stumbling over his feet while walking. "I told you that I don't have good body coordination..."

"No, Max. You didn't."

Max's eyebrows covered half of his eyes. "You said that you would aid me for this challenge... now AID ME, peasant!"

"I'm doing the best I can... I hope you realize that it's a miracle we're still in this thing. Now stop arguing with me, and follow my lead." As they began their next loop of the line dance, Scarlett spoke the moves as she did them. "Do you get it better, Max?"

"I feel idiotic..."

"You can thank your tuxedo for that."

"What was that?!"

She giggled to herself. "Forget I said anything. Just get into the groove, and the judges will see how easy this is for us."

"But... it... isn't... easy!"

"I told you to stop arguing with me, Max... we can't afford to lose focus!"

*buzz*

Both evil teens looked up to see a red light shining down upon them. "No..." Scarlett whispered. She peered over at the judges' table to see Chef holding the remote. "How is this possible? We were just getting the hang of it!"

Chef didn't care; he just pointed his finger backwards to tell them that they're out of the competition.

As Max followed Scarlett over to where Anne Maria and Cameron were, she shot him a nasty look. "Nice going," she snarked. "You're the one who got us kicked out, you know."

The purple-haired boy gasped. "I am shocked that you would make such an accusation!"

"Oh," Anne Maria teased. "She's right."

Max wore an overly-confused face that consisted of a disgusted o-shaped mouth and twitching eyelids. He turned to Cameron, who simply nodded to agree with Anne Maria.

"Feh," he mumbled as he sat down in a chair two seats over from Cameron. Scarlett took the chair between them.

Chef had to restart the song for the third time. He looked over at Chris, sending him a look that wished for death. He wanted to buzz three random couples just to speed things along, but he had to stay fair.

Chris ignored Chef's non-verbal cry for help and spoke to the camera. "Two couples have been eliminated; both of which are from Team Maskwak. They now have three remaining couples left, and Team Kinosewak still has all five. It's still anyone's game!"

Dakota watched as Sam expertly copied the line dance that Chris and Chef demonstrated for them. "Sam, I didn't know you were a dancer!"

"No, I'm no dancer. I have Just Move on my Swii, and I hold the world record for Stay Living on expert mode!" Dakota nodded, although she wasn't particularly interested. Even though the nod was forced, Sam felt appreciated and proud.

Dakota waited until Sam walked around her one last time before speaking. "Hey, Sam... I can't believe I'm saying this, but... I was wrong before."

"You were wrong? About what?"

"A-About baby blue and white not mixing. You actually make them work, and you look... pretty handsome in it, too."

Sam chuckled. "You're not just saying that to be nice?"

"No, I really mean it. You look great, Sam."

"Thanks, Dakota. But I don't look as handsome as you, that's for sure."

Dakota was dumbfounded. "Um..."

"No-no-no-no wait, I meant... I don't look as pretty as handsome is you. Wait, that's... you're pretty golden, and me handsome... GAH!"

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Sam:** (bangs head on the side of the outhouse) "I... hate... my... life... please... end... me... now..."

* * *

Dakota finally figured out what Sam was trying to tell her, or at least she had a pretty good idea. "Aww, that's so sweet!" The gamer just smiled, and kept suicidal thoughts in his head as jokes.

A buzz was heard, and Sam panicked. He thought that talking with Dakota distracted him from dancing, but thankfully, it wasn't him who was buzzed. The two looked to the front of the gym, and watched as Shawn and Ella left the floor.

"I'm sorry, Shawn," Ella apologized. "It was all my fault... I tripped and lost time of the song..."

"Don't be so apologetic, Ella. I forgive you."

"None of this was your fault... you did just splendid."

Halfway through dancing, Shawn did start to believe that he was doing good. But coming from Ella, those thoughts washed away like heavy rain on a steep hillside. However, he never thanked Ella for her compliment, nor did he deny it. They just sat beside each other with their four teammates to watch the rest of the competition. Two couples remain for Team Maskwak. All five couples remain for Team Kinosewak.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Ella:** "It was foolish of me to think that Shawn would become my one and only, wasn't it? He doesn't appreciate me the way I appreciate him, so... I shouldn't force anything. What is there to worry about anyways? I'm sure I'll find my prince very soon. But still, I'm very thankful that Shawn gave me such a wonderful evening, even if it didn't last for that long."

* * *

Jo and Lightning began to sweat from how much they've been dancing; even their legs became mildly sore. As Jo walked in a circle with the football player, she noticed Brick and Jasmine standing not too far from them. To continue her rivalry with Brick, she decided to take this chance to distract him.

"Lightning," Jo said in an airy, girly voice. "I never thought that I'd enjoy this so much." She eyed Brick to see if he overheard. Nothing yet.

Lightning looked a bit uncomfortable, but responded with kindness anyway. "Sure, dude. I'm not attracted to guys or anything, but if you're enjoying yourself, then I'm glad."

The jockette was caught off guard by this. Rather than distracting Brick, she seemed to have distracted herself with thoughts.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Jo:** "Who knew that Lightning was such a gentleman? Maybe I'll need to keep him around longer than I thought."

* * *

Even though Jo hated being mistaken for a male by Lightning, she chose to keep quiet, just to see how long it would take him to realize that she was, in fact, a girl. "Thanks, I guess. I really am enjoying myself." She checked again, Brick still wasn't looking. Lightning didn't reply to this, so Jo decided to start up a conversation more interesting than the previous one.

"So, what do you think of my outfit?"

She checked for a third time, and caught him glancing over once the word "outfit" hit his ears.

Lightning rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I thought it was creative to cut the dress to make pant legs and stuff. In one word, your outfit's totally sha-cool."

Rather than clapping, Jo slapped her face.

"Hey, speaking of outfits, is Lightning looking as sharp as nails or what?" As he locked arms with Jo in a circle, he lifted up his other arm to kiss his bicep. Once he found a cameraman on the side of the gym, he winked and flashed a shiny smile.

Jasmine noticed that Brick was having trouble concentrating. "Brick, is everything okay?"

The cadet looked back at Jasmine and shook his head to regain focus. "N-Nothing's wrong, I just can't help but overhear their conversation." He looked at her face to see a friendly smile.

"Right, right, right, clap," she whispered, desperately needing to help him. "Left, left, left, clap."

Brick began to nod his head to the beat, and continued to dance with ease. "Hey, I think I've got it down now!"

His focus was short-lived, however. Jo continued to try to distract him with dance moves that weren't part of the routine. "Right, left, right, stomp," Jo called out.

Jasmine gasped, and looked at Brick. He was tripping over his army boots while he danced.

"Brick," she cried, putting a hand on his shoulder as they kept dancing. "Don't listen to Jo. She's trying to get us to mess up."

What Jo didn't anticipate was Lightning forgetting his routine. "Spin your lasso, and stomp... and uh..."

"Lightning! Don't listen to me. You're smart," she lied, shrieking as quietly as she could. "You should have already remembered the dance by now!"

After spinning around each other once more, Lightning had to hold up a finger to talk. His steps were wobbly and his eyes resembled googly eyes. "G-Give me a minute, Lightning's... Lightning's getting dizzy...!"

Jasmine continued dancing, but kept her eyes on Brick, telling him to keep up the good work in her head repeatedly. He seemed to find his determined, passionate self in seconds flat, and lost all clumsiness that he may have had since the challenge began.

"Let's win this, Jasmine," Brick said with a grin.

Jo had other plans. "Oh, it's on, shoulder pads!"

Chris dropped the remote to slam his hands on the table to watch these two couples with fervent eyes. "Oh, what's this?" he asked dramatically towards the camera. "It looks like we're about to have a showdown!"

"A showdown?!" Lightning repeated. "That's it! No mercy! Let's do this, Jo!"

Jasmine was the only person out of the four who seemed hesitant about this idea. "Brick, we shouldn't try to compete with them or anything. They're on our team! If anything, we want them to stay in the challenge!"

Brick shook his head with a stubborn attitude. "Sorry, Jasmine. But she made the first move." His gaze screamed complete competition in an instant. "It's time to return the favor!"

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Jasmine:** "Trust me, I know how they might seem on TV. But I also know how intense competition can be. Brick was just caught up in the challenge, and made a pretty stupid mistake because of it. But anybody could have done the same. (looks off to the side with frustration) If anything, I blame Jo."

* * *

The Australian girl had no choice but to acquiesce with Brick and Jo's competition. She couldn't back out of it, or else they'd both be eliminated from the challenge. Once she thought about it, this competition was just a subtle way of getting her team to dance better. To Jasmine, the goal wouldn't be to get Jo and Lightning buzzed. The goal was to dance good enough to keep both couples in the challenge.

"Alright," Jasmine agreed, with full consent. "I'm in."

Brick nodded to her, and they both danced harder than before for the millionth time. You could see the soul and energy both competitors put into their dance, and it had all three judges watching.

Jo and Lightning had to step up their game, since they actually were trying to get Brick (and Jasmine, but mostly Brick) eliminated.

"Give it up, dampy pants!" Jo taunted.

"We will never give up, Miss Mullet!" Brick fired back.

"I bet you're on this show because your drill sergeant had enough of your shit and sent you away!"

"I bet _you're_ on this show because Total Drama needed an Eva 2.0!"

Jo hung her mouth open in shock. "I am _nothing_ like Eva!" She stomped her foot on the ground to deal with her rage, but she didn't realize that she had just stomped on Lightning's foot.

"YEEEEEOW!"

Lightning jumped back in pain, keeping his eyes shut tight while holding his foot up to his waist. "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow..." he said in a puny voice.

"UGH!" Jo yelled. "Lightning, you absolute-"

*buzz*

Leshawna was the one to buzz them out this time. "Y'all are too cute together, but c'mon. This is just sad. You're outta here!"

"C-Cute," Lightning reiterated with a mocking tone. "What do you mean, cute? I'm straight!"

As Jo walked off with her partner, she held up her hand to point at Lightning with her thumb. "Idiot," Jo mouthed out. Leshawna snickered as she did.

Jasmine threw her hands up in the air. "Brick, we did it!"

"Nicely done, soldier!" the cadet congratulated, pumping up a fist. They high-fived, but as soon as they did...

*buzz*

"Sorry, you two. You hear that music playing?" Chris asked, pointing to the speaker on the ceiling. "Notice how it hasn't stopped?"

The two looked at each other glumly, and walked off the floor in fair defeat. Chris enjoyed a brief laugh as they did. "Who would've thunk it? Both couples from the showdown are eliminated!"

"Wait," Lightning said, stopping Jo in her place to talk. "You were the one who cussed me out yesterday, weren't you?" The jockette nervously smiled to substitute for an answer.

"Hm. Thought so." Lightning left Jo on that note, leaving to sit down. Jo didn't even bother to sit next to him.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Lightning:** "I had almost forgotten that that was Jo who cussed me out yesterday! Ooh... I'll remember that the next time she tries to get all buddy-buddy with the Lightning! Wa-CHAAAAW! (he gets into a fighting stance and hits his hand on the camera) GAAAH!"

 **Jo:** "It's almost like Lightning hates me or something... but why? I did nothing to deserve this!"

* * *

The five remaining couples on the dance floor all turned to look at the host: Zoey and Mike, Sky and Dave, Samey and Scott, Dawn and B, and Sam and Dakota.

"Congrats to the ten of you still in the competition. You all passed the line dance phase!"

Zoey and Mike hugged each other, as did Dawn and B. Sky wasn't even afraid to hug Dave. Dakota and Sam celebrated together, but they didn't feel comfortable enough to hug each other. As for Scott and Samey, only one was celebrating: the cheerleader. Scott crossed his arms and tapped his foot; clearly he was unamused with the current results.

"Scott, what's your deal? We're moving on to the next round!"

"I'm not angry, I'm just frustrated."

"About what? Y-You can tell me, if you want." Samey reached out to hold Scott's shoulder, but he smacked it away.

"Don't nag me, okay?" he asked, walking away from the cheerleader. "It's just a bad attitude, that's all."

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Scott:** "Of _course_ there's a reason why I'm mad! I was planning on having our team lose tonight, but then I got to thinking. Causing my team to lose twice in a row on purpose would make some people suspicious of me. So I'll try to win this challenge so I can regain some trust. Once I have that, I can go back to sabotaging my own team. But for now..."

* * *

All teams were given a break to have concessions. Zoey picked some broccoli off the veggie platter to put on her plate. She looked over to see Sam creating a pile of chocolate chip cookies on his plate. His eyes appeared dialated, to the point where it almost looked unhealthy.

"Uh, Sam," Zoey started to say, but she let the thought go and left.

The gamer had successfully stacked ten cookies on top of each other. "Yesh," he said to himself victoriously, with cookie crumbs in his mouth. "Tetrish hash never been sho delishioush!"

Leshawna was also allowed to get snacks during the break. She didn't get much; just a couple pretzels and a cup of fruit punch. "Mm-mm," she hummed. "This is the stuff. I'm one thirsty sista'!" She gulped the entire cup down in one gulp, and even though it was technically a prom, she ignored common manners and wiped her mouth with her entire arm. That's when she noticed a few campers standing by her side with plates of food. "Hey," the sister greeted. "Y'all need something?"

It was Zoey, Samey, Ella, and surprisingly, B.

"Hi, Leshawna," Zoey said. "Would you mind signing my plate?"

"Absolutely. Lucky for you, I brought a pen with me." Leshawna signed her name in cursive on Zoey's plate, making sure not to get ink too close to her broccoli or ranch dip. "Awesome! Thanks," Zoey called, running back to Mike to show him her plate.

Leshawna chuckled at this. "Alright, who's next?"

Samey and Ella kept their smile, but B blushed just like when he first met Leshawna in person.

"Guess I'll get you next, big guy."

The silent inventor pressed his fingers together while Leshawna signed her name on his plate. Once she finished, she made sure to kiss the plate right beside her signature to leave a light lipstick print.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Zoey:** "I'd be lying if I said that I didn't expect to get this far. I'm not a terrible dancer or anything, just... not that skilled at it, you know? But I'm glad I made it to the second part of the challenge."

 **Mike:** "I-I don't want to lose my cool or anything, but... WOOHOO! I made it through the first phase without having any personalities take over! It was just me, dancing with Zoey. I'm so relieved..."

 **Sam:** "It's been forever since I last had chocolate chip cookies! And those ones weren't store-bought or anything. They were freshly baked! And they were also good, which means that Chef didn't bake them. Hehe..."

 **Dakota:** "I'm not surprised that I haven't been eliminated yet. Chris kept me in the challenge, because without me, ratings would totally plummet. It was nice to dance with Sam, but it just felt kind of weird, you know? I didn't hate it, but I feel like I should or something. I like Sam as a friend, but lately, I just feel like that's wrong somehow. No, I'm not forming a crush on him or anything. Eww! It's just a really close friendship... right? That's all it is, right? I'm not experienced enough to label these kinds of things!"

 **Sam:** "O-Oh, right. About the challenge. Dancing with Dakota was so awesome! It's only the third day, and I get to dance with the most beautiful girl in the galaxy! I've got to keep my eye on the ball if I want to slow dance with her. (his pupils turn into squares to represent pixels) Boop-be-boop boop-be-boop! Determination level up!" (he gives double thumbs-ups to the camera)

 **Sky:** "I enjoyed tonight for the most part. Of course it did feel a bit awkward at times, but getting in the top 50% is worth it. Dave seems to be enjoying himself too, and he did look pretty funny line dancing. It was even kind of cute at times. Wait... did I just say that out loud?"

 **Dave:** "I don't care if we were dancing to the cringiest song known to mankind. Just having the chance to look at Sky in her prom dress is totally worth it! I don't mean that in a creepy way... there's just something about her that just lifts my spirits and calms me down. Ahh... Sky... even her name is beautiful!"

 **Dawn:** "Hmm... I must say, B is a surprisingly good dancer."

 **B:** (holds up his plate, and points at Leshawna's signature and lipstick mark with a cheesy smile)

 **Samey:** "Things are going great! I'm moving on the the next round, and Scott seems to be opening up to me a tiny bit! I know, he's not the most social or positive person, or anything like that... but that's not going to stop me from trying. Without that ball and chain known as Amy holding me back, I'm free to make friends whenever I want!"

 **Chris:** "During the break, I informed the ten finalists to enter the confessional outhouse to speak their thoughts about the challenge so far. However, we never received any confessionals from Scott other than the one about his plan of sabotage. But we did get something even more exciting! Just watch."

* * *

Scott left the glass gymnasium while holding his stomach. He told Chris that he needed to use the bathroom, but this was just an excuse to leave. He hobbled with fake pain until all the campers inside the glass walls were out of sight. This was when he ran; he ran towards the main lodge.

Once he got there, he took a minute to catch his breath. He looked up at the rickety-looking porch in front of the door. "Finally... I'm here."

Scott opened the door, which was a bit resistent due to low-quality hinges. It creaked loud and ominously enough to fit in a haunted house.

The lights were off, and all the windows had curtains over them to block any natural sunlight from illuminating the room.

"I'd better make this quick," Scott whispered to himself, speed-walking inside the dining hall. He closed the creaky door behind him to prevent any suspicion of him being in here.

Scott's eyes were very sharp and keen, so they adjusted to the dark atmosphere quickly. He looked down at the floor as he walked, and made his way into the kitchen part of the main lodge. The sudden impact to the saloon swing door startled Scott, but he never screamed. The main lodge wasn't too far from the glass gymnasium, so it's possible that somebody could hear even a small scream. He didn't know, but silence was key. Scott continued to walk in the darkness.

The red curtain in the kitchen didn't fully block the sunlight; it allowed small amounts of light to pass through. This gave the kitchen a mysterious ambience of deadly crimson. Deadly enough to make the farm boy gulp.

His eyes found the freezer on the opposite side of the kitchen. "Excellent," he said, creeping up to the door. It was already cold in the main lodge, so the sudden chill of opening the freezer's door didn't affect Scott at all.

Meat was hanging on the sides of the chilling room, as if they were lining a path. Scott walked down said "path" until something caught his eye. In the bottom corner of the room, a glass bottle with a grey label was sitting there, almost blending in with the wall.

The label read "Vodka."

"Score," Scott praised himself, picking up the cold glass bottle.

He shut the freezer door behind him, and found a half-empty water bottle sitting beside the sink. Despite the cold temperature in the room, the water was hot and old. _This water bottle must have been Chef's_ , Scott thought. He wanted to vomit just thinking about drinking from this bottle, but this was for the challenge. He didn't have time to look for another one, anyways.

The farm boy emptied the water bottle's contents into the sink, and in its place, he put cold vodka in the plastic bottle; filling it up to the very top. He took a sip of the vodka, his eye twitching at the strong taste, but recovered quickly.

"Alright, everything's all set," Scott stated, leaving out the back door of the main lodge. "Now the real fun begins." He snickered devilishly as he closed a creaky wooden door behind him.

* * *

"Hmm," Chris narrated, using the paused video of Scott as a background for a green screen. "Lying, stealing, and underage drinking? For shame, Scott. For shame. I wonder what he's going to do for the second part of the challenge? Find out when we return... on Total... Drama... Revenge... Pahkitew Island!"

* * *

~xxx~

~xxx~

~xxx~

 _There we have it; the first part of my first original challenge. I know that a prom-themed challenge has been done before in several fanfics, but I felt like this was a great way to develop the characters through friendships, rivalries, or maybe something else?_

 _And yes, Leshawna was the special guest I mentioned last chapter. She's one of my favorites from the first generation cast, and I hope that I accurately portrayed her unique personality._

 _It shouldn't take too long for Part 2 to get published. I need it published a few days before Halloween. Th-There's no reason why..._

 _Once again, let me know if you find any errors, whether it be grammatical or regarding the story. Praise and criticism are much appreciated._

 _Pencil-Lead-Guy Recommendation #3:_ _Talk You Down by The Script_

 _See you next time! Stay fresh as always._

 ** _Special Thanks: Rednex for Cotton Eye Joe_**


	7. Chapter 4B: Parties? Real Original, Man

**Disclaimer: I do not own Total Drama, its characters, or anything else related to the series.**

 **Warning: Mild cursing and drinking. Not recommended for you guys at home, but hey. You do you.**

* * *

~Replying to Reviews~

 **Nicky Haugh -** Thank you! I hope you'll enjoy the rest of my story.

 **ShadowJcreed -** I'm glad to see that you enjoyed this chapter. Leshawna's that one Total Drama character that's impossible to hate. I'll admit that the dance showdown was a last-minute decision, but I'm glad that it was a part of the chapter as it did add to Brick and Jo's rivalry.

 **AnonBrowser -** I always look forward to reading your reviews. You give each "main" character such an in-depth analysis, and they usually help me remember certain parts about their character or their mindset. As a writer, I find it hard to stay perfectly true to a character's personality. So thanks for supporting, I mean it from the bottom of my heart. When I came up with the idea for a prom-themed challenge, I did want Ella and Dave to be a couple. At the time, I thought that it was a good idea to have a member from Team Kinosewak pair up with a Team Maskwak member. But this was too complicated, so I kept the couples inside teams. Because of this, Jasmine and Shawn were also unable to be a couple for the challenge. They'll get some interactions together soon. My main problem with canon Sky was Dave. She sent wrong signals to Dave and made some bad choices during Season 5B. In my mind, Sky should be athletic, just, responsible, and maybe a little insecure, so this is how I will write her throughout the season. I haven't planned for future guest stars, but I do want most (if not, all) the cast to appear in this fanfic. But not Blaineley, she's dead to me.

 **xtremexavier15 -** If Total Drama wasn't for kids, Chris would definitely be a drunkaholic. But the vodka will have some significance this chapter, but you probably guessed that from that bit last chapter with Scott in the main lodge. I'm no fashion expert, so I needed to look up some dresses and tuxedos for this challenge. I made up dresses off the top of my head for the more "predictable" characters, such as Ella (princess theme), Dakota (anything flashy and attractive), or Anne Maria (showy and over-the-top). I chose some characters' clothing based on their personality or hobbies. This includes Shawn (blood-red tux), Brick (military boots and camo tie), and Lightning (well... lightning colors). There were two outfits that stood out to me the most, and they belonged to Samey and Sky. Samey wanted a wedding dress but went with a small white dress; this symbolizes her first time away from Amy's rule and criticism, as she starts small trying to become her own person. Sky's dress was chosen because of both personality and oh-I-think-this-color-looks-good-with-this-character. I think it represents Sky trying to tell Dave to keep their relationship casual. And of course there's Jo's dress... I just decided to have fun with this one and have her turn a dress into a jumpsuit.

 **Dynasty X** \- Yes, as I stated in the "Announcement" chapter, Chris will be returning back to his original personality. I can see why the writers decided to make Chris as a sadistic jerk, but it ruined his character and it was honestly quite annoying to put up with. Not that he wasn't annoying in the first place, but Chris ruled in Total Drama Island. He does care about the contestants... well, at least a little bit.

 **oparekumixavier** \- I wouldn't say that this is the "last" season of Total Drama, just the "latest" one. I don't plan on creating a sequel to this, though. If I do, I would want to try it with original characters, but for right now, this is the only Total Drama fanfiction I'm making.

 **Solarr-Eclipse** \- Thanks so much, and I hope that the rest of this story satisfies my audience.

* * *

Now let's get back to prom and finish up this challenge!

~xxx~

~xxx~

~xxx~

They were having so much fun, that they had forgotten about the challenge entirely. They casually feasted on punch and party snacks and began friendly conversations with each other.

Zoey, Sky, Dave, Mike, and Brick had taken some chairs and set them up in a circle to hold conversations. The indie girl was telling them about her hometown.

"Can you imagine," she asked, with crumbs of pretzels in her mouth. "It's like living in a town full of Lightnings."

Sky smiled as she listened to Zoey's story. "Oh yeah, that would suck. You might want to invest in some earbuds."

The girls laughed together, but Dave, Mike, and Brick shuddered, because they knew Lightning better than anyone else in the group.

Yeah, they were all having fun. Except... for one. Jo was watching them talk from an isolated chair. She was holding onto the fact that she had lost the dance battle with Brick. Lightning saw her and pulled up a chair.

"Hey, Jo, what's up?"

She noticed his positive expression. "You seem happy."

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be? It's prom, dude!" He punched her on the arm in a friendly manner.

This called for an eye-roll. "Yeah, but we didn't even make it past the first round."

"Oh. Is that what you're mad about?"

"I'm not mad," Jo insisted, although she knew she wasn't fooling him.

The football player took a big swig of punch. "Sure, keep telling yourself that."

Jo felt the need to stand up. "Sounds like you're asking for a fight!"

She had a fist raised by her side. Lightning couldn't take this kind of behavior, so he stood up to give her a piece of his mind.

"Now listen here, dude, I don't-"

As soon as he stood up, his cup of punch spilt on the front of Jo's dress. Everyone had stopped talking to turn their head.

"Are you kidding me?!" Jo shouted. With a loud dramatic huff, she sat down in her chair and crossed her arms.

Lightning sat back down after dropping his cup onto the wooden floor, letting the beads of punch create a small, pink puddle. "Hey, Jo, I didn't mean to do that..."

"Save it," Jo said, not moving a muscle.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Lightning:** "Ugh... why do I even try with that dude?"

* * *

Sam was picking cookies from his plate, and popping them in his mouth. "Here comes number eight!"

Dakota was talking with Anne Maria and Dawn, but she heard Sam say this and turned around quickly. "Uh, Sam?" The gamer looked at her and made a muffled noise; Dakota took this as him asking, "What?"

"Number eight?!" she asked, running up to him and taking his plate away from him. "Sam, too many cookies are bad for your health!"

"I duh cuh... ih pwaw!"

Dakota didn't even bother to ask what that meant. She let him swallow his cookie before repeating himself.

"I said... I don't care. It's prom!"

"True, but I don't want you to get sick or anything. We still have to dance soon, remember?"

"Yeah, but I'm going for a high score of ten cookies under a minute!" He looked at Dakota's stern but concerned expression, and then at his plate. "Can I have my cookies back?"

She shook her head. "Sorry, Sam. Can it wait until after the challenge?" She leaned in to wipe a crumb off of his cheek. "You could get sick, and I want you at your best for prom anyways."

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Sam:** "Wow... I was just trying to have a little fun, but Dakota wants me to focus on the challenge. That's good, though! At least people won't call her out for not caring anymore. Phew... now once people see how determined she is to win, then we'll get to stay on the island even longer together!"

* * *

The gamer understood Dakota. "Okay, I'll save the cookies for later. Thanks for caring." Dakota handed the cookies back to the boy, and they left. Once Dakota's back was turned, Sam took one of the two cookies left on his plate and held it up to his face.

Dakota spun around and caught him. "Sam..."

"Okay, okay, I was just kidding." They both grinned as Sam set the plate on a free chair.

Shawn had a plate of everything; cookies, veggies, and pretzels. He avoided the punch, as it held a very deep red color. He knew that the punch wasn't blood, but it made him feel uncomfortable, so he stuck to swallowing his saliva as a drink substitute.

Ella sat down beside him once she noticed him. He was surprised that Ella didn't say "hi." They just sat together, eating their snacks. Even though he didn't like her that much, he felt awkward to just leave her in silence like that.

"It feels nice to finally eat real food, right?" he asked, hoping to start up a decent short conversation.

The songbird ate a baby carrot with ranch dip on it and giggled. "Y-Yes..." She continued eating her vegetables, as she built up the courage to speak.

"It's no secret that I did like you, right?"

Shawn began to feel uncomfortable, but responded anyway. "I kinda suspected it."

"Well... that was just my lovestruck self, desperate for love. And I apologize if it made you feel uncomfortable." Shawn didn't answer, letting Ella continue. "If we could remain as friends, then I would be fine with that. We can't force love anyways; love should happen naturally."

This last sentence resonated with Shawn. "Love happens... naturally? What does that mean?"

"Hm? Well, I suppose it means that we should accept the fact that not everything goes your way. All people are different." She noticed Shawn nodding as she spoke. "To put it simply, love to me is like finding someone who you have the least amount of differences with."

Shawn tried to nod, but a thought held him back from doing so. "What about that saying about opposites attracting?"

"I never really found truth to that saying." She ate another carrot to have an interval of thought. "Are you perhaps thinking about Jasmine?"

"Yeah..." he admitted shamelessly. "How will I know if she likes me back? And is it even okay to date someone in something like Total Drama?" Ella didn't answer, as she was trying to answer these questions for herself.

"Maybe telling you guys that I like Jasmine was a mistake," Shawn said, shoving a cookie into his mouth.

Ella put her string of thoughts on hold; she knew exactly what to say here. "It's okay to be in love, Shawn."

Shawn held onto that sentence as he watched Jasmine eating veggies with Samey. He was about to respond, but the loud slamming of the door cut him off. Scott was walking into the gym with his vodka in a water bottle and a tired face.

"Oh, hey Scott," Samey greeted with a shy wave. "Feeling better?"

The farm boy continued walking without looking at the girl. "Somewhat."

She didn't feel offended; she went right back to eating. In fact, Scott noticed that nobody was watching him after a couple seconds. _Perfect,_ he thought. He strode over to the concessions table and put all snacks on his plate. He didn't grab a cup of punch because of the vodka he brought from the kitchen. If people saw him getting two drinks, they may get suspicious of him. Even if he didn't intend to drink vodka, he decided to go through the break without a refreshing drink. He picked up his plate and went towards some members of Team Maskwak to talk.

The members (Cameron, B, Max, and Scarlett) had created a circle with their chairs just like a few members of Team Kinosewak did. They were talking (well, everyone except B) about strategies to use against Team Kinosewak. Scarlett and Cameron were the main two who contributed to this conversation; Max just agreed with everything, and B simply thought about everything that they were saying.

"Well, hello," Scott addressed in a falsely polite manner. "What are you guys talking about?"

Cameron leaned away from Scott and shifted his food on his lap along with him. "Th-That's none of your business."

Scarlett knew something was up. "What do you want, Scott?"

"I don't want anything," the farm boy lied. "I just wanted to come over and chat." On purpose, his foot got caught on the back of B's chair leg. He tripped and spilled his plate of snacks all over the silent inventor's back.

"O-Oh, I'm sorry, B. Here, can you help me pick this up?"

B wasn't angry. He shook his hand, stood up, set his plate of food on his chair, and began to pick up the snacks on the floor. Scarlett shrugged and did the same, as well as a reluctant Cameron.

"Max, can you help me?" Scarlett asked. Knowing she would receive a "no," she lied to convince Max to help. "I think I see some gold coins on the ground."

"Wh-What? Gold..." In an instant, he dropped his plate of cookies to the floor and scrambled on the ground to find the coins. "I-I need it..."

Now that all four teens were on the ground picking up Scott's snacks (and looking for gold coins), Scott knelt down to pretend to help. As he was down, he unscrewed the lid on his bottle. He snickered silently through his nose, drank half of B's punch, and poured vodka into B's cup. Scott took one more look around, and saw that nobody witnessed him doing this. The punch retained the same color, but it was a bit faded. It would be very difficult to notice this, even for someone as smart as B. But Scott took this chance. He put the lid back on his bottle and truly went to help pick up the trash.

"Here," Scott said, picking up the plate he dropped. "You can put it on here. Thanks for the help, I guess." Scarlett and B nodded.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Cameron:** "I really don't like that Scott guy. I'm not going to trust anyone on the other team, especially not the athletic-looking ones! On TV, strong-looking people are usually bullies, and I really don't need to get involved in bullying on this show!"

 **Scott:** "I doubt that someone like B has ever drank before, but that'll just make my plan work better. A tall glass of punch half-full with vodka... now _that'll_ be one hell of a show. A show that I definitely won't want to miss. Heh heh heh..."

* * *

Scarlett looked at B's drink. Maybe it was her vision failing her, but it looked... different. She cleaned her glasses with the frills of her green dress, but nothing changed. She let it go, deciding that it was just her mind playing tricks on her.

Chris stood up on his chair and clapped loudly for everyone to hear. "Attention, campers. The break is now over! Would the five remaining couples please return to the dance floor for our electronic phase?"

The bubble boy began to clap for B. "I'll be rooting for you, B! Do your best!"

Sam grabbed a cookie, stuck it in-between his lips, and ran towards the dance floor with the cookie still in his mouth. Chris watched him judgementally as he announced, "And please, finish up your snacks before returning. If not, leave them with your chairs."

The ten campers who have already been eliminated set the chairs back up in rows, and sat down; only half of them were eager to watch the last two parts of the challenge.

Dawn grabbed B's hand. "Come on, B. The challenge is starting!"

B held up a finger, and grabbed his cup of punch. Scott watched him with malicious victory, as he put the cup to his lips and drank the punch/vodka mixture. The farm boy couldn't see his reaction, but B did look at his cup quickly.

"Yes, drinks don't seem to last long enough, do they?" Dawn asked the inventor, passively pulling his arm to the dance floor. Even with B's weight, Dawn was easily able to drag him. B dropped his cup on the way, but he wasn't completely drunk. To Scott, he just seemed confused, and out of it.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Scott:** "Phew... that was a close call. B could have thrown the punch away, but he just _had_ to have a quick, refreshing swig of fruit punch before dancing. And I just had to give B the vodka, because who is he going to tell about that odd flavor in his drink? Nobody! Aw, man... I'm totally gonna run this game! Winning, _and_ having fun doing it? Now _that's_ how a true man lives his life! Team Maskwak may as well just quit now. (pulls out his pocket knife and drags it in front of his neck)

* * *

The five couples were finally on the dance floor, and they were given more than enough space to dance.

Zoey and Mike stood beside each other, holding hands.

"I don't know anything about electronic music," Zoey shamefully admitted.

Mike didn't know what to say. "I know a little bit about it, but the routine shouldn't be too hard... I'll help you, okay?"

"Sure thing!"

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Mike:** "Okay, I don't know _everything_ about my other personalities, but I do know that Vito likes electronic music. But I'm not bringing him back because, one, the Lord knows he can't dance, and two, even if he could, he would just refuse to dance with Zoey and she would completely lose trust in me! I can't let that happen! As for me, I barely know anything about music. For now, I'm just going to have to wing it."

* * *

Sam and Dakota were facing each other, smiling awkwardly.

"Sam," Dakota asked. "You didn't pig out on any more cookies, did you?"

The gamer held up his right hand. "I swear on my honor. You ready to do this?"

"Oh, totes. I dance to pop music all the time, and I'm sure that electronic music's not that different, right?"

"Yeah. You'll do great."

* * *

"Scott, are you feeling okay?"

Scott shook his head and focused on the cheerleader standing in front of him, with a worried look.

"Wh-Why would I not be?"

"You look... happy."

"...Oh." Scott didn't notice this himself. He was too busy internally praising himself for his clever plan. "I'm just ready to win. You got a problem with that?"

"No, no, not at all. It was just like... you peed your bad attitude right out or something."

Samey tried to giggle her bad joke off, but the only thing she received was a strange stare from Scott.

"Peed my bad attitude out?" He hit his forehead with his palm. "What kind of sick-"

"I-I was trying to make a joke. You said you had to go to the bathroom, right?"

Scott was at the point of groaning. "Just... stop with the jokes. Please."

"S-Sorry. Got it."

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Samey:** "Gosh, what is up with me? That's, like, the second bad joke I've told Scott today. And it was about _peeing_?! _PEEING_ _?!_ That is so not like me! Am I trying too hard to become friends with Scott? (she rests her head on her fist and sighs) If it hadn't been for she-who-will-not-be-named-or-appreciated-anymore-for-that-matter, things would go _way_ more smoothly."

* * *

Sky and Dave didn't speak much during the break; they had been listening to Zoey's hometown stories and Brick's cadet school stories most of the time. They weren't too nervous; at least they didn't have to slow dance together... yet, possibly. Even though Dave really wanted to slow dance with Sky, he was also nervous; probably the most nervous person in the room.

This left B and Dawn, who were standing in the back right corner of the gym. They were the furthest couple from the eliminated couples, as well as from the judges. This was working all too well for Scott's plan.

Dawn noticed B's constant swaying. "Do you feel dizzy?" she asked, getting on her tiptoes to feel his forehead for a fever. "You don't feel hot... do you perhaps need to go visit the infirmary?"

B seemed to struggle shaking his head, and once he did, he clenched his teeth in pain. "O-Oh my stars, you must go to the infirmary, B!" Dawn cried. She grabbed his hand as he stumbled over to the side, catching him before he fell over.

Once again, B shook his head with pain.

Dawn was hesistant, but understood. "Right. This is for the challenge. Please, if you feel worse, just let me know."

B held his finger up to his mouth, reminding Dawn of his refusal to speak.

"Oh, that's right... then... just change your aura color if you feel worse. Okay?" B didn't understand, but Dawn had figured that he did. "Change it to green; I sense that one the best."

* * *

"Okay," Chris announced into a megaphone. "All this yelling is making my throat hoarse so you're gonna have to deal with this megaphone now!"

All campers plugged their ears. It was obvious that he had the megaphone to get on everyone's nerves; he was even yelling into it.

"Ugh," Sky whispered to Dave. "Chris himself isn't worth winning a million bucks."

Dave chuckled under his breath. "Yeah, I'm with you there. Good luck, okay?"

"Yeah. Same to you." Sky looked at the judges' table to see all three celebrities sitting with prepared looks. "Last round wasn't too bad. You just have to remember the dance moves and you're set."

Unfortunately for the remaining five couples, Chris could overhear them. "Sorry, Sky," Chris apologized without any concern. "But in the electronic phase, as well as the slow dance phase, all dance moves will be improvised by you!"

The five couples gasped.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Zoey:** "This can't be happening!"

 **Sam:** "No way am I getting to the slow dance phase now!"

 **Dawn:** "He must be joking! The last thing I want to do is to stoop down to the level of... ugh... _break dancers_."

 **Dave:** "Yeah, I suck at freestyle dancing, but hopefully, everyone else will too, then me and Sky will look better by default! Right?"

 **Scott:** "It's so like Chris to do this... (mocks Chris's voice) Who cares if you embarrass yourselves in front of the whole world? It's for the ratings, after all. Blah blah blah... (returns to normal voice) But I'm determined. I've got to win so I can regain my team's trust! Besides, Samey already seems to trust me... partially, anyways. So we'll just help each other get as far as possible into this challenge. Hopefully then Team Kinosewak will see how much I care about this game. Heh heh."

* * *

The host turned to the sassy sister beside him. "Leshawna, you can also pick the song for our electronic phase. What'll it be?"

"Oh man," she silently exclaimed. "There are so many good ones to choose from! Hmm... how about Animals?"

Chef groaned. "Uh... Maroon 5?"

"No!" Leshawna screamed. "Not them... I'm talking about the one by Martin Garrix!"

Chef stroked his chin. "Martin Garrix... Animals... are you sure about that, Leshawna?"

"Yeah, why?"

"There's only four words in that song, and one of them is-"

"Hey," she called out, cutting him off. "It'll be fine, baby. Just play it, nobody'll hear that word." Her voice was smooth and laidback, assuring Chef that there was nothing to worry about. One last grin from the sister convinced him to play the song from his phone into the speaker. A steady synth beat began to play, as anxiousness flooded all minds on the dance floor.

Chris hopped onto the table and pointed in the air for dramatic effect. "Now, let's begin the electronic phase! Your challenge begins... now!"

Claps appeared in the music, and they may as well have been everyone's heartbeats.

Zoey and Mike knew of nothing else to do than to face each other, slightly bounce their knees, and bob their head to the music.

"This is a good start," Mike informed the indie girl. "We can find out what works from here."

"Looks like we're doing better than some of the others, so that's good, I guess." Zoey looked around at her fellow campers. "Some people aren't even dancing," she observed.

Mike looked around as he continued to bob up and down. Two couples weren't dancing; they were only standing and looking at each other. They were Dave and Sky, as well as Dawn and a struggling B.

"Oh no... Sky, Dave! Hurry!" Mike pled. The athlete could hear him, and tried to do something. She stepped side to side in time with the music. "Come on, Dave," Sky told her partner. "We need to do something to catch the judges' attention!"

The germaphobe nodded and joined Sky in stepping side to side. Once Dave could get a good feeling of the music, he stepped with more emphasis and aggression, repeatedly pumping his fists down and up from his waist. Sky smiled and nodded back at the boy, following his movements. The four members of Team Kinosewak who had already been voted out of the challenge clapped for the couple. However, Jo clapped out of empty politeness.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Sky:** "As much as I may not like to admit it, Dave and I work surprisingly well together. I suppose if we both survive a possible elimination tonight, then I could start an alliance with him!"

 **Dave:** "I'll be honest... Sky looked pretty cute dancing in her dress. All that line dancing was a bit cheesy, but now, Sky really seems to be enjoying herself. Maybe, just maybe, I could ask her out pretty soon! I'm sure we'd make a great couple, and if we work together for the rest of the season, then we'll be unstoppable!"

* * *

*buzz*

Dave looked at the red light above him. "Wh-What?"

"O-Oh no," Sky gasped. She was shocked, but she recovered quickly. "I guess that's it, then," she told Dave, holding her wrist.

"Guess so. I-It's been fun dancing with you."

The athlete half-smiled; Dave took this as a complete smile masked by shyness. "Yeah, same here."

Their eyes suddenly seemed to lock with each other, and time seemed to freeze. The music was completely drowned out by the silence in their heads. Sky found herself moving closer to Dave...

*buzz buzz buzz buzz buzz*

They both stopped, and looked at the red spotlight above them, blinking ferociously. Chris was to the side, clicking the remote's red button repeatedly to grab Sky and Dave's attention.

"Ahem... news flash! Your moves were too repetitive! So... you're eliminated!"

Sky coughed into her fist and slowly strode to the side of the gym. "R-Right. My bad."

Dave didn't move. It wasn't that he didn't want to... it was just that he was distracted by the beauty of Sky's dress. How graciously it flowed behind her like a beautiful fusion of fire and water, creating a shining, starry sky of maroon...

Chris buzzed the spotlight once more. "DAVE!"

"S-Sorry, Chris!" Dave had to blink a few times before running off. "Hey, Sky, wait up!"

* * *

Dawn threw her right fist in the air to the beat of the music, trying to get her mind fully into the rhythm. But she couldn't stop worrying about B, no matter how hard she tried.

He wasn't feeling any better. From B's perspective, Dawn was blurring around the edges and there seemed to be three of her. B attempted to throw his hand in the air like Dawn had been doing, but lost his balance after a couple seconds. The moonchild was quick to catch him.

"B, we need to leave!"

But the inventor shook his head and held up a thumbs-up in front of him to say that he was okay, although his face said otherwise. B and Dawn were one of the only two couples left for Team Maskwak. Even so, Dawn didn't care about winning too much; she stayed quiet and let B continue to dance (or at least attempt to). Even though B wasn't entirely aware of the challenge and what was at stake, he instinctively felt the need to dance, just as everyone around him was.

* * *

Scott and Samey were doing better than most. Samey, of course, had no trouble with her dancing, as her cheerleading routines worked well with the music. Scott tried to follow along with her movements, except for the parts where she swung her hips around.

"Yeah, keep it up," Samey said quietly. "You're doing great."

"Well, I feel stupid."

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Scott:** "I actually, genuinely, one hundred percent want to win this challenge. But this part of the challenge is just so... awkward. And how are you supposed to dance to electronic music _with_ someone else? I don't go to a lot of parties, but even I'm smart enough to know that you usually dance to electronic music either alone, or with a group! Not just you with another person! (pounds his fist on the wall) Who knows if I'll even win this challenge? Damn."

* * *

Samey had been dancing to all of her routines up until now. She didn't have very many, and the dance moves aren't that different, so she had to think of something new or else the judges would eliminate her and Scott for being too repetitive, like what happened with Sky and Dave. However, none of the judges were watching her at this very moment, so she took advantage of this short period of time for a mental break.

She looked around at the other contestants, and watched their dance moves closely. Not to steal their dance moves, but to see if they inspire a new move for Samey to try.

And then she laid eyes on Dawn and B. "O-Oh no..." she whispered, watching how Dawn was trying her hardest to support B.

Scott peered his eyes. "What's the matter, Samey?"

"Nothing," the cheerleader lied.

"I don't believe you. Something's up."

She wanted to deny it, and even inhaled to prepare an objection, but all she could do was release her breath into a meek sigh. "I guess I'm not that good at lying..." she confessed.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Scott:** "Hehehe... it takes one to know one, am I right?"

* * *

"I'm a bit worried about B and Daw-"

Scott stopped dancing to put a finger over Samey's lips. "You don't need to worry about that right now, Samey. All that matters is us, okay? I've got this under control."

"What does that mean exactly? You have it under control...?" She made quotation marks with her fingers as she repeated what Scott said.

"It means that I can get the both of us all the way through this challenge, okay?"

Samey smiled. "That'd be great. Keep it up, okay?"

"Yeah, same to you, I guess."

Samey started dancing as if she was at a disco club in the 70's, doing stereotypical disco dance moves, such as drawing a peace sign across her eyes and snapping to the side. She soon found some inspiration from this and began dancing to the fullest extent. This even surprised Scott; it was like she was a completely different person.

But this seemingly new persona vanished in an instant once Samey heard a shrill gasp.

This gasp came from Dawn as she held B's shoulders firmly. "B, your breath... it smells like alcohol!"

Samey didn't know what to make of this... and her dancing seemed to decrease in energy and soul. It appeared that Samey and Scott were the only two people to hear Dawn say this. She said it softly to avoid drawing attention, but that clearly didn't work out.

B didn't look guilty... just drowsy and tired. Tired enough to stop dancing entirely.

"Oh my..." Dawn cried, looking into B's glossy eyes. "B, you didn't..."

*buzz*

Dawn didn't care that they had just been eliminated. She took B's tuxedo off to cool him down, and helped him walk to the door. The losers, regardless of what team they were on, looked sympathetic for the inventor; oblivious to Dawn, Samey, and Scott's knowledge of what really happened. Leshawna watched the couple leave the gymnasium with a solemn look. "Gosh, I hope he's alright," she told herself.

Samey continued dancing, but it never returned to how energetic it was before. It remained without life; her concern for B frustratingly lingered on Samey's mind.

"B... was drinking...?" was all Samey could say.

Scott nodded with a suspicious look. "I heard it too... I never thought that someone like him would get drunk. Especially before a challenge." He saw her unsettling expression and added, "But we can't afford to worry about B, got it?"

Samey gasped at Scott's tone. "S-Scott, you can't just-"

"Right now, we need to focus on dancing, do you understand? Dawn will take care of him, got it?"

The cheerleader tried to object once again, but somehow found herself agreeing with Scott. "Mhm... I get it..."

"Good. We just need to get Sam and Dakota out of this challenge and then Team Kinosewak wins by default!" This seemed to lift Samey's spirits slightly. Scott leaned in to whisper to Samey. "And if that happens, the best part is that we won't have to dance with each other for the slow dance phase!"

Samey nodded; she found it rude to agree, but she couldn't find it in herself to oppose him.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Samey:** "As much as I would want to slow dance with someone, at the prom, in this beautiful white dress, with all my friends watching... it's not worth it with Scott. I don't want to build that kind of a relationship with someone like him. I don't even like him like that; I just wanted to be good friends with him! And even if I did like him, I'd have to think about his feelings for Amy. They did like each other... (does a cuckoo sign) for some odd reason."

* * *

Sam and Dakota were taking inspiration from the line dance into their dance this round. They stepped side to side and clapped, but with more intensity. They both found fun out of this at first, but now that happiness seemed to fade.

"Sam," Dakota piped up. "We've been doing this for too long. We've got to think of something else!"

The gamer looked around and nodded. "We're the only couple from Team Maskwak left, so that means that if we want to win, then we've gotta beat both Zoey and Mike, and Samey and Scott."

"We've already tried doing the line dance again... but what else can we do?"

Sam looked into Dakota's eyes, seeing that she was putting all her faith in him. Thankfully, it didn't take him long to think of a solution.

"Yeah, we've tried incorporating line dancing, but you know what we haven't tried?"

The model looked a bit nervous. "What...?"

"Slow dancing!"

Her eye twitched. "Slow dancing... already?"

Sam slowed down his dancing in confusion. "Wait, what do you mean by 'already?'"

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Dakota:** "I was totally preparing myself to slow dance with Sam, but I wasn't even thinking about it! I also wasn't thinking about the fact that we may not get to slow dance... something is definitely wrong with me!

* * *

Sam offered his hand to the girl; it was sweaty from fear, but Dakota took it anyways.

"It's just slow dancing, but... not slow, right?" Dakota asked.

The gamer nodded. "Exactly! Now let's equip our dancing shoes!" They both giggled together as Sam pulled Dakota closer and put his hands on her hips.

As Dakota rested her hands on his shoulders, she noticed how Sam was holding her. "Uh... too low."

Sam adjusted his hands higher.

"Uh... too high, Sam..."

Sam adjusted his hands lower.

"Sam... you're too low again...!"

Sam tried to adjust it a third time, but Dakota had to grab his wrists to direct them in the right place. "There," she said. "Just keep them right there, 'kay?"

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Sam:** "As a gamer, I've got to consider that a failure on my part. It's one of the most important rules: when given the choice, never enter dangerous territory. And I almost did that three times in one minute! I hope Dakota doesn't get any weird ideas about me..."

* * *

With all hands in appropriate places, Sam and Dakota started to perform an electronic slow dance for everyone; they stepped quickly but spun in a circle slowly. Overall, the performance seemed to work, and it had caught the attention of all three judges.

"Whoo-whee!" Leshawna hollered. "Now that's what I'm talking about!" She, along with Chris, applauded the couple as Team Kinosewak's members began to worry.

Chef wasn't clapping; he was thinking. He whispered in Chris's ears as he watched the remaining three couples, who passed Chef's message down to Leshawna. They all nodded to each other in agreement as Chris picked up his megaphone.

Before speaking, he propped his legs onto the table. "Attention, campers. The judges have discussed, and we have decided on our final two couples to compete in the slow dance championship! Please give a big round of applause for..."

...

...

...

"...Samey and Scott from Team Kinosewak, and Dakota and Sam from Team Maskwak!"

Everyone other than those mentioned clapped, including Zoey and Mike. They were both sad, but they decided to be good sports and cheer for both couples.

*buzz*

The buzzing of the red spotlight over Zoey and Mike didn't kill their applause either. They both ran over to Samey and Scott to cheer them on.

Zoey wrapped her arms around a blushing Samey. "Samey, you were awesome!"

"Thanks, Zoey! You too."

Mike was in an awkward place. He held out a fist for Scott, and nervously said, "Congrats, Scott. Good luck for the slow dance."

Scott nodded with a smug face. Getting into the championship wasn't a surprise to him at all.

Team Maskwak felt that Sam and Dakota were lonely, so Sam, Shawn, Ella, Cameron, and Anne Maria all ran over to the couple to celebrate.

"Aw, yeah," Shawn yelled, running up towards Sam to give him a chest bump. Sam had quick reflexes, and jumped into Shawn for the chest bump, although it was a bit earlier than it should be. The zombie survivalist ended up on the floor; Sam had to pick him up.

"Sorry, bro," Sam apologized, rubbing his belly. "Must've been all those cookies."

Anne Maria squeezed Dakota's arms into a hug, with a joyous face that surprised the model.

"Dakota, you looked amazing, gurl!" The model grinned with gritting teeth; Anne Maria's grip was only getting tighter.

"A-Anne Maria... let go...!"

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Dakota:** "Anne Maria is really strange... I can't tell if she likes me, or hates me, or what! But you know what, that's not important right now. I could actually win a challenge for my team, and I won't be in danger of being voted off again! Not that I enjoy staying in a stupid old cabin with weirdos, but it'll get better if I just give it some time, right?"

 **Anne Maria:** "Of course I'm happy; I don't care if I'm not acting like my usual self! I'm just happy because now we don't have to see Ms. Goody-Goody and Vito slow dance together. I just dodged a major bullet there." (sighs and wipes sweat off her forehead)

 **Mike:** "I'm not sad that I didn't get to the final round. It's a missed opportunity to dance with Zoey, sure, but I'm much happier that I'm finally out of the challenge, because none of my personalities took over. I didn't want to risk it by dancing with Zoey any longer. I'm so relieved..."

* * *

After seeing most members of the other team go support for their championship representatives, some Team Kinosewak members did the same for their representatives: Samey and Scott.

"Nice work," Jasmine complimented the cheerleader, giving her a big hug. "You're doing great, Samey." She hugged Jasmine back and giggled to herself out of happiness.

Sky, Dave, and Brick all ran over to give both Samey and Scott a high-five. Lightning was tempted to follow them, but then he noticed Jo sitting beside him. Her arms were crossed and her eyes were half-covered by her tense eyebrows.

"Come on, Jo. Don't you wanna go congratulate them?"

The jockette didn't answer; she just turned his back towards him and huffed. Before she fully turned, Lightning got another glimpse of the light red stain on her chest.

"You're not still mad about that punch incident, are you?"

Jo rolled her eyes, even though she knew that Lightning couldn't see it. "Leave me alone, I'm not in the best mood, in case you don't know how to read the air."

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Lightning:** (has his foot propped on his other leg and sighs) "Wait... you can _read_ air?! What does it say?... Whatever, Lightning hates reading anyways. I know I'm going to regret this... but here goes."

* * *

"Hey, Jo," Lightning piped up, leaning over to try to see Jo's face from behind. "Would you like to come with me?"

Jo wanted to snicker, but held back. "What for? Are you going to take me for a walk or something? That's lame."

"No, I was going to see if you wanted to try on a new outfit."

This piqued Jo's interest. "A new outfit?"

"Yeah. Nobody deserves to be angry at the prom, you know."

"But this is just Total Drama. It's not a real prom!"

"What difference does it make?" Lightning had thrown his hands in the air out of frustration, but cooled his head to talk to Jo silently. "I know I'm not all that smart, but I'm smart enough to know that this challenge is one of the few opportunities we're gonna have to just kick back and have fun!"

Jo rested her head on her hand glumly. "So what? I'm not a party person."

"Maybe that's 'cuz you dressed for competition."

"What do you-?" She didn't need to finish; she felt how the bottom of her dress tugged at her legs from the stitches. "Yeah, you're right... if I'm honest, I had my dress stitched so I could dance better. Then I lost in the first round, and I was humiliated because of my dress and its punch stain!"

She was breathing heavy from her rant, heavy enough to make Lightning hold up his hands for protection. Jo sighed and relaxed herself. "It just makes it feel like it was all for nothing, you know?"

Lightning nodded, but she turned away again. "N-Nothing... it's nothing important. I'm not usually one to talk about this sort of stuff anyways."

She sighed once more and looked forward without any external emotion. A blur appeared in front of her, and when she took her focus off of the wooden floor, that blur materialized into Lightning's open hand.

"I hate seeing people like you refuse to have fun at a time like this. Let's go get you a new tuxedo, okay?"

Jo hesitantly took his hand, just because there was something about Lightning that made her trust him. Underneath his athletic and selfish exterior, he does have a heart. "Fine, I'll go."

The jockette expected Lightning to hold her hand longer, but he let go as soon as she stood up from her chair. They walked towards the glass gymnasium's door, as Lightning brought up a conversation.

"So, why did you wear a dress instead of a tux?"

"I've already told you a million times! I'm a- YEOWCH!" The football player had stepped on Jo's foot once again. "Watch it, meat-for-brains," she warned. Lightning chuckled and continued walking towards the door.

Jo also wanted to laugh. Even though she wanted to see how long it would take Lightning to find out on his own that Jo was a girl, it was still fun to see if she was able to tell him directly or not. She was even fine with wearing a tuxedo, just to keep the joke alive.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Jo:** "So Lightning's playing it nice now, huh? I'll accept whatever little kindness he has left for now. But no way are we getting far in this game together. He's a good sport, most of the time, but he's not worthy of an alliance. (picks up a stick) So when the time comes to eliminate him, I'll do it without hesitation! (breaks the stick) OW! Splinter! You little b-"

* * *

The two couples were given a quick break to rest before the slow dance. Sam went straight back to the refreshment table for more cookies.

"Sam," Dakota playfully whined. "I told you to cool it with those! You've got to stay healthy, okay?"

The gamer spoke with a cookie in his mouth. "Buh I'll beh fwan, on't worry!"

"How do you know that you're going to be fine? B already got sick and got buzzed out." Dakota stuck out her hand towards the door, calling back to when B and Dawn left.

He swallowed his cookie with a loud gulp. "I keep telling you, I'll be fine, honest." Sam wore a proud face as he began to prove his point. "I've never had a sugar high before, and I once ate ten boxes of Girl Scout cookies in an hour!"

Dakota laughed nervously; only one box of cookies was more than enough for her.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Sam:** "Eating unhealthy foods for a good cause. Now _that's_ what I call a win-win!"

* * *

Scott watched the two speak from the other side of the gymnasium, by the door. He saw how Dakota mentioned B, and he relished over the fact that his plan worked. And the best part was that nobody knew that he slipped vodka into B's cup of punch.

"You okay there?"

Scott turned back to Samey. They were both sitting down in chairs; pulled over away from the rest to relax in private.

"I'm fine," Scott answered.

Samey raised an eyebrow and looked at the cup of punch in her hands. "Is that right? You've been staring off into space a couple times now..."

"It's nothing personal or anything if that's what you're getting at." The cheerleader seemed to nod with her eyes and took a swig of punch. "Just surprised to be in the final round is all."

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Samey:** "Yeah, me too! I don't want to dance with Scott, but I guess I have no choice. This could be my one chance to prove to my team that I'm actually useful! All I have to do is just copy what the girls on TV do during slow dances. Just look into his eyes, smile, sway with your steps... and ignore the fact that you're dancing with Scott. That's all there is to it!"

* * *

Scott took some baby carrots from his hand and shoved them in his mouth; Samey cringed at the sight but stayed quiet. Once the farm boy finished chewing, he turned back towards his partner.

"Man, no offense, but I'm not looking forward to any of this."

Samey nodded with wide eyes. "Oh yeah, none taken; I'm totally with you there." She finished up her punch and crumpled the cup in her hands. "If it helps, you can just pretend that I'm Amy."

Scott pretended to seem flustered. "W-We weren't dating..."

"You liked her though, right?"

He looked away, and slowly nodded.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. Just pretend I'm Amy, and this will go by a lot more smoothly."

The sound of Chris turning on his megaphone echoed throughout the glass walls. "Alllllll-right, everybody! It's time for the final round of tonight's challenge: the Slow Dance Championship! Would the two couples from both teams please make their way back to the dance floor?"

Samey jumped out of her chair and dropped the crumpled cup onto the floor. "Scott, it's time!"

Scott was taken aback; her voice was a strange mixture of excitement and fear. Her palm was shaky, and was sweaty from holding the cup for so long. So he took this chance to calm her down, and held her hand.

"Hm?"

Scott snickered. "Come on, _Amy_ , let's dance."

The cheerleader smiled, and then coughed rudely to act like her sister. "Ugh, fine, but if we lose, you're so dead!" They silently laughed together as they walked over towards the floor.

Dakota and Sam were both excited, although fear barely existed in their minds at the moment. Sam's fear was from his crush on Dakota, and Dakota's was from Sam's health. Nevertheless, then both ran over to the floor beside Scott and Samey.

"Now," Chris said, speaking to both teams through the megaphone just to be obnoxious. "Since you are our final two couples, the four of you will discuss with your partners which song you'd like to slow dance to!"

Leshawna's mouth hung open. "What? I thought I would choose again!"

"Easy, sister. It's prom; let them have their moment." Leshawna shrugged and went with it. After thinking it over for a while, she told herself, _Heck, I'm actually excited to see what songs they'll pick._

Sam instantly smiled when he heard that they were choosing the songs. The perfect song was on his mind.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Sam:** "One of my favorite shows of all time is definitely Stranger Occurences, and at the very end of Season 2, there's this huge winter ball where the kids all slow dance together to this song. The song that plays in the background is heartfelt, has a pop vibe, sounds retro, is a throwback, and it definitely set the mood for the scene."

* * *

Sam had just told Dakota his idea for a slow dance song.

"Time After Time?" she repeated.

The gamer nodded eagerly. "Yeah, it's from that TV show, Stranger Occurences!"

Her eyes widened. "Wait, really?! I _love_ that show!"

"Seriously? That's awesome. Who knew we had so much in common?"

She coughed to the side, suggesting otherwise, but kept her happy attitude. "Yeah, I'll be fine with that song."

Chris turned to his co-host in a shiny pink dress. "You got that, Chef? Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper?" Chef nodded, then looked on his phone to get the song ready. "Now, let's hear our song of choice from Team Kinosewak."

Scott shrugged and held up a hand to his partner. "Don't ask me; I don't know anything about this kind of stuff."

Samey thought it over, and then her eyes lit up like the sun when it peeks out from behind a dark cloud. "Scott, do you like the Beatles?"

"The Beatles? Yeah, I guess so."

"Great," she responded, turning back to the judges. "We choose Maybe I'm Amazed by The Beatles!"

The title confused Scott; it made him think of a scenario where a guy tells a girl that she might look amazing. Samey had good dancing, so she had to have good taste in music as well, right? He had no other choice but to go with it.

"Uh, actually, it's just Paul McCartney," Chris corrected. "But nice choice! Chef, get that one ready. And speaking of getting ready, how are you guys doing right now?"

"Excited," answered Samey.

"Nervous," answered Dakota.

"Totally unprepared," answered a chuckling Sam.

"Eh, same as always," Scott said without emotion.

Chris held up a thumbs-up. "Love that enthusiasm, everyone! Now let's begin the final phase of the prom!"

Applause rolled through those sitting in chairs once again. The couples smiled at each other, trying to figure out how to describe their feelings; "afraid" or "excited" did no justice.

"Now," Chris began. "Since Dakota and Sam picked their song first, they will be the first couple to dance."

Sam took a step back. "Really?" After a look at Dakota, he quickly thought about this and accepted it. "I guess that's fair..." he sighed. The model smiled back at him; she was finally ready to dance.

"Good luck, you two," Samey said, waving to Dakota and Sam as she walked off to the side. Scott followed her with a competitive grin. As he watched them leave, Sam whispered in Dakota's ear, "Look at their clothes. She's an angel, and he's a devil. Cool, right?" She nodded and slightly smiled.

Chris turned on the spotlight, but it gave off normal light instead of red light. It hung above Sam and Dakota like a sun beam. "Hit it, Chef!" Chris called, pointing to Chef. He began the song, and a soft guitar began to play throughout the room.

Sam was still in a state of slight shock when Dakota placed her hands on his shoulders. He got to be with Dakota and dance with her, for the whole world to see. He put his hands on her hips and slowly swayed as the vocals kicked in.

Their faces were overtaken by emotion, and they smiled uncontrollably. Dakota seemed to get a little shy, but she focused on the music, so that she wouldn't give anyone any ideas.

Sam giggled quietly. "Man, this is just pure nostalgia for me. My mom loved this song, and she played it all the time in the kitchen when I was little."

"Really? I never really grew up with music or anything like that. It was always playdates, dress-up, Barbie dolls... I only know songs on the radio and TV."

The gamer nodded, expecting an answer like this. "I'm sorry to hear that about music. Nostalgia is one of the best feelings in the world."

"Is it really?" Dakota asked with a shred of disbelief. "Isn't nostalgia just, like, memories that hit you hard at random times?"

Sam looked into her eyes; she was serious. "So you're telling me that you've never experienced true nostalgia before?"

"N-No..."

"I'm sorry to hear that... I think that music is the best way to find emotion."

"I'm sure it is... I just don't understand how feelings can be that powerful, you know?"

Sam laughed again, but much louder this time. He didn't care if it ruined the mood of the song. "Not to get all deep and junk, but emotions aren't just black and white. It's hard to explain a feeling through words, and that's why music conveys emotion better than words do. Music is a different language, you know."

The model found herself smiling; intrigued in what he had to say about music. "That's... really interesting, actually. Nostalgia actually sounds... kind of nice. I don't really have anything special to me from my childhood that could give me nostalgia."

"S-Sorry..."

Suddenly, the chorus kicked in for the second time. This gave Sam an idea for a seemingly "romantic" move. He took Dakota's hand from his shoulder and lifted it above her, spinning her around. Gasps and "aww's" came from the other teens in the room.

Leshawna put both hands on her heart. "They're so cute together!"

"Sam!" Dakota whispered in surprise. Their hands returned to their normal positions on her hips and his shoulders.

"Hopefully this'll be memorable enough to give you nostalgia later," Sam said with a smooth voice, raising his eyebrow. Dakota giggled and lightly pushed him on the shoulder. "Sam, you're so cheesy!"

"Hehe, well... I couldn't resist."

For the next minute, they continued slow dancing, swaying with more life than before. They immersed themselves in the slow rock song that seemed to sparkle with love; they enjoyed every minute in the limelight together. Zoey even found herself leaning on Mike's arm as she watched the two dance.

It was all going so well, until Sam felt his stomach rumble.

"Hm? What's wrong, Sam?" His stomach growled louder this time, and Dakota could hear it over the music. "Th-That's not from the cookies, is it?"

"I hope not," Sam answered, taking a hand off of Dakota's hips to hold his stomach. "Hey, stomach, shut up! This is kind of an important moment!"

Dakota politely laughed at this. "You're really funny, Sam."

Then he took his hands completely off of her, leaving Dakota flustered.

"W-Well," Sam sputtered. "You won't think this is funny..."

The model gasped as Sam threw up on the floor. "Gross...! Sam, I told you..."

"...not to eat any more cookies... I know, I'm sorry."

Chris covered his mouth, trying to contain his laughter. Every contestant sitting in a chair stood up in shock.

The gamer was kneeling on the ground in front of the pile of vomit. Dakota bent down beside him and held his shoulders. "Sam, are you feeling okay?"

He coughed as an answer.

"Come on, I need to get you out of here..." She walked Sam over to the glass door as Team Maskwak wore glum faces.

Sam looked up at Dakota as she walked him to the door; his face pallid with ghostly white. "I-I guess we could call that 'toss cookies,' huh?"

"Sam, this isn't the time to joke about that!"

The glass door closed behind them as the song faded out.

Samey held a hand over her mouth. "Oh no... poor Sam!"

"Everyone's getting sick on Team Maskwak," Scott observed. "Wonder what's going on with them."

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Scott:** "Sure, Sam getting sick wasn't part of my plan, but I'm definitely glad that it happened. That puke totally ruined the mood of the song, so winning this challenge for our team should be a cinch!"

 **Shawn:** "I don't get it... why would B and Sam both get sick on the same day? Unless... no, it wouldn't happen yet, would it?! No, there's no doubt about it! The zombie virus has broken out, and it's gotten Sam and B! B was walking like a zombie, and Sam was vomiting, which is a sign of zombie infection! I'll need to check for bite marks as soon as I can! If only I had my zombie supplies with me, I could probably find a way to help! I can't allow good people like Sam and B to die on my watch!"

* * *

Shawn immediately dashed to the door, only to get blocked by Chef, who swiftly ran over in time.

"Aww, Chef! I don't have time for this! Get out of my way, this is a matter of life or death!"

Chef growled. "Six people have already left, and I will not allow a seventh person to leave!"

"What he said," Chris spoke towards the camera.

Shawn tugged at his collar with anxiousness. "Chef, I'm serious! Our lives are at risk!"

Chef picked Shawn up by the back of his red tuxedo and walked him back over to his chair. "You will stay here until the winner is announced, understood?"

He still seemed a bit antsy. Chef stomped for effect, and screamed. "That's... an... ORDER!"

Shawn sighed with anxious thoughts filling his head. "Yes sir..."

"Good."

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Shawn:** "I-I should be fine... they only have a few more hours until they slip into paralysis... I could still save them, though! (he gasps and quivers in fear) And what about Dawn and Dakota? Or Jo and Lightning? I have to make sure that they're safe, too!"

* * *

Jasmine put a hand on Shawn's back. "Jeepers, Shawn, calm yourself," she consoled. "What's gotten into you?"

"The zombie virus is here," Shawn warned dramatically. "And B and Sam are already infected!"

The Australian girl did become a bit worried, but she didn't believe him. "You really think so?"

"It's got to be true; everything lines up! I hope the winners are crowned quickly, or else they could become zombies!"

The teens around him stared with judging looks, but Shawn didn't care. Jasmine didn't know what to say, but she still tried to calm his nerves. "We'll be okay. If there's any zombie sightings in the area, I'll be sure to do whatever I can."

"Thanks, Jasmine! You're awesome." Jasmine caught herself smiling at Shawn as they spoke.

After everyone had taken in the unexpected events of Sam's accident and Shawn's outburst, Chris grabbed his megaphone. "Now, let's hear it for our second couple competing for victory... Samey and Scott!"

Samey and Scott stayed with their teammates.

"What?" Chris asked impatiently. "You've got an appointment on the dance floor!"

They shifted their eyes towards the pile of vomit in the middle of the gymnasium.

"...Oh." He looked at Chef, and yelled, "Cleanup on aisle three!"

* * *

After Chef changed into his regular clothes and mopped up the vomit, the floor was shinier than before, and Team Kinosewak's couple stepped on the dance floor, right in the center. Chef had sprayed lemon-scented vomit absorbent in the area, and although Scott didn't like sour foods, he was thankful for what he had rather than having to smell the "toss cookies."

"Thank you, Chef," Chris mumbled as he sat back down in his chair, starting up the next song for Samey and Scott to dance to. A soft piano played at the beginning of the song.

Scott was sort of disgusted by this. "A piano, huh?" he asked Samey with irritation. "That's the most basic instrument to ever be invented! 'Maybe I'm Amazed' my ass."

"Please give it a chance," Samey insisted, putting her hands on his shoulders. "I promise, this song is really good for slow dancing."

"You're making it hard to pretend that you're Amy when you're acting all goody-goody."

"R-Right, um... Look, if you don't like the song, then you can leave, you moron!"

Scott grinned. "That's more like it. You ready?"

"Definitely," the cheerleader answered.

They felt awkward at first. For both of them, it was either having to stare into their eyes or stare off to the side. They didn't particularly like each other, but here they were, dancing to a slow song on international television. Although they shouldn't be thinking about this, the one question that crossed both of their minds was, "What would Amy think?" Not that they cared, but it was something they could think about.

The lyrics came in about "loving you all the time," which only made the moment much more uncomfortable. Samey decided that they would continue swaying, and stomach the lyrics until the chorus came in. This was her plan for the challenge.

"Maybe I'm amazed at the way you pulled me out of time, and hung me on a line..." the lyrics went. "Maybe I'm amazed at the way I really need you..."

Samey pressed down on Scott's shoulders to get his attention.

"What is it?"

"This is the chorus. Spin me!" she whispered.

Despite being the male dancer, Scott had decided that Samey was leading this dance. She was the contestant with the most experience in dancing, anyways.

Just like the previous couple, Scott lifted Samey's hand and spun her around, letting the chorus begin with a spark of beauty. Samey let her hand flow outwards as she finished her spin, and Scott did the same for symmetry's sake. The crowd clapped once again, and the judges were intrigued. Even though they repeated a move that Sam and Dakota did, this time it was executed with much more grace and confidence.

"That was good, nice job," Samey complimented the ginger.

He looked around as they joined back together. "I don't think that'll be enough to tip the scale. We need more."

"Right. Got it... give me a moment to think."

"S-Sure, take your time." He said this quite abruptly, but Samey didn't care. She just focused on her thoughts and trusted her title as a cheerleader. In the meantime, Scott swayed with her to the point where it was getting boring.

Samey seemed frustrated trying to think of a good dance move, and whispered to herself with a harsh tone. "No, no, that won't work. You have to think of something better than that, Samey!"

"Hey, I think the chorus is coming up," Scott cautioned. "If you want to do something when it hits, then you'd better think of it fast!"

"I-I'm trying! Just... I need more time, but the song's almost over..."

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Scott:** "That's it, it's my turn to think of a plan. Now let's see... what's a dance move that's popular, memorable, good for slow dances, can get a crowd cheering, and can get us the win? Heh... there's only one dance move I can think of that fits."

* * *

Scott looked at his partner; she had her eyes shut tight, trying to block out the world to think.

"Samey."

She opened her eyes to see him staring directly at them. He seemed... hopeful, for once.

"Do you trust me?" he asked.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Samey:** "Uh... not really, no."

* * *

"Samey," he snapped. "I asked if you trust me."

She didn't know what to do. "But... w-wait, I-"

"We don't have time for this. I have a plan. Do you trust me? Last chance or we lose!"

She decided to put her faith in him one time. "Yes... I trust you."

"Excellent. Now run over there, then run back to me. I'll lift you up."

Samey gasped. "Just like the Dirty Dancing scene? I love that movie!"

"Yeah yeah," Scott hissed. "Hurry it up, please."

The cheerleader nodded and ran away from Scott all the way to the judges' table. They were confused, but they became excited once Samey started walking back to Scott. It started slowly, then she increased her speed and looked straight at Scott.

"Trust me," he spoke without voice, motioning for her to run faster. She did, and eventually got to Scott. He picked her up by the stomach, and held her high up in the air. The final chorus of the song came in right at this time, and Samey looked petrified. Once she saw that she was in good hands, she held out her arms like a bird would its majestic wings and looked up into the sky through the glass.

She couldn't tell from overwhelming fear, but everyone was cheering for the two. Chef even whistled with two fingers in his mouth to cheer them on.

Scott noticed that the guitar in the background was fading away, so he slowly brought Samey back to the wooden floor. Once the song was completely over, the campers exploded with applause.

"Scott, that was incredible!" Samey praised, throwing her hands in the air. "You did amazing!"

"W-Wow... I guess I did." Scott had to laugh to process what just happened, but in the end, he did feel the first bit of true happiness ever since he set foot on Pahkitew Island. "But I can't take all the credit. You did _way_ better than I did."

"You really think so?"

"Hehe, definitely."

Chris stood up from his chair and clapped with the others. "Nicely done, _Scamey_."

"Don't make that a thing," Chef said, rolling his eyes.

Chris was unsure of how to finish this challenge up, with finalists not present at the gym. "Normally I would have the two couples stand right in front of me, so I could reveal the winner, but I guess it's just you."

Samey and Scott were off-center from a bird's eye view of the gym, so they got back in the middle and eagerly awaited the results.

"Please give us a moment to discuss," Chris said, sitting back down to exchange whispers between Chef and Leshawna.

Chef gave his opinion first, and Leshawna was next. "Oh," Chris said, unamused. "So I'm the odd one out, huh? Oh well."

He stood back up to speak to everyone in the room. "Campers, I am pleased to announce the winner of tonight's prom challenge. Both teams did have their advantages and disadvantages, such as tedious dancing, repetitive dance moves, and of course, the Hurl of Shame." If Sam was there, Chris would be looking at him.

"Now, let's hear who won. The winners of tonight's challenge... are..."

...

...

...

...

...

"...Scott and Samey, from Team Kinosewak!"

Everyone from their team stood up cheering, and ran over to support the couple. Samey immediately jumped up and threw her arms around Scott's shoulders, bringing him in for a tight hug. "Scott, we did it!"

Scott laughed triumphantly as he hugged Samey back. "Nice work, Samey."

Suddenly, they were surrounded by their teammates, who were there to lift the two up in the air to celebrate. "Whoa whoa whoa whoa," Scott yelped as his teammates picked him up.

Once Samey was fully in the air, she laughed with an uncontrollable smile of pure joy.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Samey and Scott:** (splitscreen confessional, with Samey on the right and Scott on the left. They talk at the same time.) "Yes! I finally earned my team's trust just like I planned!"

* * *

"Samey, Samey," Jasmine began to chant. Zoey, Sky, Mike, and Brick all joined in the chanting. "Samey, Samey, Samey!"

Scott was a bit surprised that they weren't chanting his name, but he didn't take it too seriously. Maybe trust is harder to earn than what he thought.

Meanwhile, Team Maskwak was still sitting in chairs, looking at each other with concern.

"Congratulations, Team Kinosewak, for your second victory this season," Chris announced. Chef and Leshawna stood up beside him, clapping for Samey and Scott. The two were set down so that Chris could finish speaking. "Your reward this time is a much-needed one... every member of the team will receive a toiletry bag for the washrooms." Gasps of excitement filled the room as Chris listed the contents. "Complete with shampoo, a toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, soap, wash cloths... you name it! Chef will deliver these to your cabins later tonight."

Zoey and Mike high-fived each other. It appeared that placing third wasn't a waste in the end.

"Well, gang," Brick said to his teammates. "Let's return to our bunks. It's been a long day, after all."

"Yeah."

"Ditto."

As Team Kinosewak turned towards the gym's exit, Jo and Lightning reentered. Jo was wearing an all-black tuxedo, and she received many shocked looks. "What?"

As Lightning walked with Jo to the middle of the floor, Zoey put her hands together in admiration when she saw Jo's tuxedo up close. "Jo, you look stunning!"

"Yeah," Samey agreed. "It looks much nicer than your dress."

"Thank you," Jo said with sass, letting her hands flow downwards to present her tux in a showy fashion. It didn't look too attractive.

Lightning was confused about the situation. "What'd I miss?"

"We won!" Dave shouted, and Team Kinosewak cheered once again. It didn't take long for Lightning and Jo to join in.

Chris walked in front of the table with his hands behind his back. "Congrats again to the ten of you. Brick, Jasmine, Sky, Dave, Zoey, Mike, Samey, Scott, Lightning, and Jo. You're all safe for tonight. You may go back to your cabins now."

"Wait," Jo interrupted. "I just got dressed, and now you're just telling me to leave?"

The host shrugged. "Sorry, prom's over."

Leshawna was listening to all this, and decided to intervene. She stomped around the table right beside Chris and got in his face. "Okay, wait just a second. You don't understand how hard it is for a girl to pick clothes for an occasion like this!"

Lightning whispered in Jo's ear. "Did she just assume your gender?" Jo ignored him with an amused face.

The sassy sister continued with a finger in the air. "You know what I think you should do? Give them the toiletry bags as a reward, along with more time to dance. How does that sound, everyone?"

Everyone, save for Scott, nodded and smiled at the brave Leshawna who stood up for them.

"Fine," Chris agreed. "But on two conditions. One, this can only be a Team Kinosewak exclusive dance."

Shawn sighed and looked down once he realized that he really wouldn't be dancing with Jasmine tonight. Ella was also sad, not because she wanted to dance with somebody; she just wanted to dance in general. However, the other members of their team weren't too sad.

"Condition two," the host continued. "Team Kinosewak will have to choose between the toiletry bags and extra dancing time for their reward."

Mike rubbed his eyes with a yawn. "What...?"

"We can't have a team getting two rewards, and force the other team to vote someone off, you get me? It's just not fair. So thanks to Leshawna here, you guys will have a choice." He looked at all their faces as he asked, "What'll it be? Toiletry bags, or extra time to dance?"

Sky looked at the winners of tonight's challenge. "I think that the winners should choose." Her team nodded to agree.

Scott held up his arm to Samey, giving her full authority over the decision. With a deep breath, she called out to the world, "Team Kinosewak, this prom is _not_ over yet!"

"Woohoo!" Lightning screamed. "Hey, Chef! Crank the tunes; we're going all night!"

The cranky chef rolled his eyes and slouched back in his chair as he got a dance playlist ready on his phone. As he was doing this, Chris made his way to Team Maskwak, or rather, what was left of it.

"You'll have to inform your four missing teammates about your loss when you leave," he told them. "And in a couple hours, you will meet back up at the campfire to vote one of your own off of the island." The six campers looked at each other. "It appears that the prom will be extended for the other team, so you'll need to leave immediately. I'll call you back when the elimination ceremony begins."

"...We've got a special surprise tonight, after all."

This struck fear in their hearts, like the tolling of a large church bell on a quiet afternoon. But as Chris left them, they decided to go ahead and leave the gym.

Scarlett was the first to speak, and she spoke to Max. "Well, that was fun while it lasted, I suppose."

"What do you mean?" he blurted. "We didn't win; that was no fun at all!"

Scarlett chuckled without any real amusement. "You don't have to act stoic all the time just because you claim to be evil."

"One, you sure are one to talk. And two, I don't just claim to be evil, I _am_ evil!"

"...Sure. But being evil shouldn't hold you back from having fun."

"Nothing about tonight was _fun_ , I'll have you know. I only have fun by myself."

"Is that so?" Scarlett pushed up her glasses. "Then I suppose it wouldn't matter if I called a bet, would it?"

The purple-haired boy gasped. "A bet? What kind of bet?"

"I'll have to tell you about it later," Scarlett informed Max quietly. "Too many people around. You understand."

Although Anne Maria and Cameron did find little fun out of this challenge, they were still in the dumps from losing, and didn't speak. The only thing that came out of the mouths of Shawn and Ella were sighs. Shawn had almost completely forgotten about Sam and B.

As Chef started up the playlist, all members of Team Kinosewak looked back to watch their competition leave them. They were sad to see them leave without having to join them for the extended prom, but they didn't care. They enjoyed the moment and danced by themselves, including Leshawna, and heck, even Scott. He was mostly faking his emotions, but to him, tonight's main focus was earning trust, no matter what.

Samey, however, received different thoughts after seeing Team Maskwak leave. She didn't feel bad for winning... no. She felt afraid that something bad... something seriously bad would happen tonight. Someone was in serious danger.

 _B._

"Oh no," she gasped, running away from the group towards the gym door. She wiped away a tear and quickly passed the slow-moving six members of Team Maskwak.

"Girl, where are you going?" Leshawna called. She decided to ditch the dance and sprinted after her.

* * *

It took ten minutes for Samey to find the infirmary, as she'd never been there before. Once she found the large moss green tent, the only people she found there were Sam and Dakota. Sam had changed back into his normal clothes, and was lying on the hospital bed inside the infirmary with a pale face. Dakota was sitting in a nearby chair, but she was still in her prom dress.

"Sam," Samey exclaimed, running in to check on him. "How are you feeling?"

The gamer tried to chuckle, but it led to light coughing. "Better than ever," he lied.

Samey approached him and placed her hand on his forehead; it was quite cool to the touch. "Dakota, how's he been doing since you left?"

"No more barfing, thank goodness," she answered. "Oh hey, how did you and Scott do?"

The cheerleader gulped, feeling embarassed to be the one to break the news to them. "I'm really sorry but... Team Kinosewak won tonight's challenge."

Dakota's eyes seemed to become glasslike. "Oh..."

"Hehe, I kinda expected that," Sam admitted, leaning up from the hospital bed. "You still did a great job, Dakota. We probably would have won if I hadn't ruined the dance."

"Aw... thanks." The model walked up to the bed and placed a hand on his back. And suddenly the thought hit her abruptly. "O-Oh no..."

"What is it?" Sam asked, adjusting his small glasses.

"We lost the challenge," Dakota explained. "And that means that one of our teammates are going to be sent home!"

Sam understood, and gasped. "Wait, but... they wouldn't vote me off the show, would they?"

"I don't know, Sam... I can try to talk to anyone who tries to vote you off if that'll help."

"If you really mean that, then yeah, it'll help big time. Thanks, Dakota!" The gamer leaned up more to hug Dakota. She hugged him back and held her breath, so she wouldn't have to smell the horrid smell coming from his mouth.

"Aw, I hope you don't go... I'd miss you like crazy."

Samey was still standing by the tent's entrance, watching this entire situation occur. "Uh... where's B? I need to talk to him!"

Dakota released from the hug and pointed to the side with her thumb. "Oh, the quiet guy? I'm pretty sure he's in your cabin, actually."

"M-My cabin?"

The model shook her head quickly, to remove any potentially strange thoughts from Samey's mind. "No, wait, I meant the boys' side of your cabin!" But Samey had already ran off. Leshawna found Samey as she began to run away.

"Girl, there you are!" Leshawna called out.

"Oh, Leshawna? What are you doing?"

"It seems like something's up with you. I wanted to see if you wanted to talk... to get your... thoughts off your chest... wow, all this running is a real... pain in my behind..." Leshawna clutched her hip as she ran.

Samey shook her head, trying to tell herself not to worry about telling Leshawna the truth about what happened with B. "I'm going to see B, to see if he's feeling better."

"Oh yeah, I got so caught up in dancing that I almost forgot about him! The poor guy... you know where he's at?"

"I think I know... follow me."

Samey and Leshawna ran to Team Kinosewak's cabin and entered the boys' side. B was laying on one of the bottom bunks in an orange t-shirt and shorts, and Dawn was kneeling beside him. The inventor was breathing heavily, and he seemed to be half-asleep.

"Samey, Leshawna," Dawn greeted with a worried expression.

"Hey, Dawn," said Samey. "What are you two doing here?"

"I didn't want to disturb my other teammates, so I brought B here instead. I hope you don't mind."

"No, no, I don't mind at all."

The moonchild focused back to B to continue caring for him, until she remembered that she missed half of tonight's challenge. "How did the challenge turn out?"

"Kinosewak won," Samey answered, feeling uncomfortable once again.

Dawn took a breath and turned back to B. "I expected as much. I fear that B is in danger of being voted off tonight..."

"My goodness," Leshawna exclaimed, walking up to B to hold his hand. "Hey there, big guy. You awake?" The inventor opened his eyes, and once they focused on Leshawna holding his hand, his pupils dialated greatly. He nodded with a smile.

Leshawna held his hand higher to feel it. "Your hands are so clammy... you must feel awful."

Samey and Dawn watched from behind Leshawna as she continued to hold his hand. They had warm feelings in their heart as they watched the two.

Leshawna grasped his hand tighter. "Listen, B, I have to go."

"What?" Samey gasped. "Already?"

"It's getting late," the sassy sister explained. "And as much as I hate to say it, I've got a boat to catch. I was told to get in the boat before the elimination ceremony starts." She looked back at B to tell him one last thing before she left. "B, I want you to get better soon, okay? Then when you do, keep trying. A big ol' sweetheart like you deserves to win the million." She kissed him on the forehead before walking away.

The cheerleader waved. "Bye, Leshawna," she said. "Thanks for giving us a few more minutes to dance."

"Yeah, don't mention it, girlfriend." Leshawna walked up to Samey to give her a bear hug. She then turned to Dawn and hugged her, too. "You take good care of B, now," she requested. Dawn nodded with a smile faint, but sincere.

Then, Leshawna turned her back, exited through the door, and made her way to the Dock of Shame, leaving Dawn and Samey alone with B.

* * *

Shawn was the first one to make it to his team's cabin. He held the door for Cameron and Max, and when he entered himself, he saw it in the middle of the floor. "No way," he whispered. "No frickin' way! Chef gave me back my survival supplies!" Shawn picked up the camoflauge bag and hugged it close to his chest. "Oh yeah, I thought I would never see this again!

"Wait," Cameron interrupted. "Chef brought your supplies back? But why?"

"Guess he finally understands my side of the story," Shawn said with a smile, rummaging through his bag. "Oh hey, there's my nunchucks! And my pocket knife, and my binoculars and lighter...!"

Max rolled his eyes as he tucked himself under his covers. "Do not talk excessively, dirt boy. I am trying to sleep."

"Dirt boy?" Shawn repeated, his chest bouncing in laughter. "I'd probably be offended if it came from someone other than you."

"Whatever. _Please_ be silent!" Max shouted, not silent at all.

A knock came at the door, and Cameron answered it. Dakota and Sam were standing on the porch with exhausted faces.

Shawn pointed at Sam and leaped backwards. "Z-Z-ZOMBIIIIE!" He took his shoe off and threw it at Sam; it bounced right off of his belly.

"Uh, I'm no zombie," Sam said, punching the door. "Ow... see? I can feel pain."

"Phew, that's a relief."

Dakota looked at Cameron. "I'm just here to drop Sam off."

Cameron motioned for Sam to come in; he did with tired legs. "Thanks, Dakota."

"So, uh, Cameron," Dakota started.

"Wait, is this about me kissing you yesterday? That was just to make Jasmine laugh-"

Dakota blushed embarrassingly. "It's not about that! It's about tonight's elimination. Who are you going to vote for?"

Cameron put his finger on his chin, as their conversation caught the attentions of both Max and Shawn. They also began to think of who to vote off.

"Maybe... I might vote for Anne Maria."

Dakota wanted to object to this, as she had become good friends with Anne Maria since this season began. But she respected his decision, and at least he didn't say he would vote off Sam. Now it was Shawn's turn.

"I can't believe that I'm about to say this," Shawn started. "But I'm thinking about voting B off."

"Seriously?" Sam asked with arms outstretched in anger. "He's so useful to our team, though! Maybe he could help us with tomorrow's challenge!"

"But he was really out of it today, and I don't know if he needs to be going through another day of this. He needs some rest, so if anything, I'm doing him a favor!"

Cameron faced Shawn to argue. "But B's really smart! We need smart people on our team!"

"We have you, don't we?" was Shawn's rebuttal. "We also have people like Scarlett and Dawn. We'll be fine without him." He walked over to sit on the bottom bunk of the newly-built bed. "Heartbroken, but... still fine."

Dakota wasn't entirely okay with this, but at least they weren't going to vote for Sam. So she had to accept this. "Well," she began. "I'm gonna go now..."

"Bye, Dakota," Sam called out. The two waved to each other before the model left. Sam noticed Dawn and Samey walking B over to their porch so he left the door open. "B, you're back!"

 _Speak of the devil,_ Shawn thought while crossing his arms.

B waved back to Sam. Dawn patted him on the back as she spoke. "B is feeling much better. He did have to rest for a while, but now he's as good as new." She looked up at B with a hopeful face. "Are you ready, B? I'm letting go now."

She let go of B's hand and back, and let him walk into the room on his own. "See?" Dawn asked, happily. "I knew you'd get better in no time."

Cameron noticed the way B was walking, which interested him. "What was wrong with B? Did he have a migraine or something?"

"Much worse," Dawn admitted. "I believe that he was drinking alcohol."

Samey's heart sank lower than it has today once she heard all the campers in the room gasp, and give B suggestive stares.

"B, you didn't actually drink, did you?" Sam asked. B shook his head, although he knew that he had been tricked into getting drunk somehow. "Dawn, what made you think that he was drinking?"

"His breath, mainly. Also, his walking was a bit off, so I had him walk in a straight line to see if he really was drunk or not. And it turns out... he was."

Max threw his covers off, jumped out of his bed, and threw his hands up in the air right in front of B. "You idiotic... idiot! Didn't you think that getting drunk would cost us the challenge?!" B held up his hands in front of him, as if to tell Max to calm down, which he did (barely).

Samey couldn't take much more of this. All the hateful stares towards B, and the accusations towards him... she didn't know the entire story, but she knew that B wouldn't willingly drink on Total Drama, not to mention, at all. She abruptly left the porch and stormed off towards the forest. Dawn reached out for her. "Samey, where are you going?"

* * *

She was alone. Nobody was around, not even a single animal. Only trees; only colors of the earth tinted by the darkness of night. She reached out for a nearby branch, broke it off of the tree, and carried it out of the woods. Samey had a plan.

It didn't take her long to find Chef's trailer. With the stick in hand, she tried opening the door. Thankfully, it opened easily, and she could enter.

The trailer was quite messy, and cola cans were scattered on the floor around a mini-fridge. Her goal was to find Chef's phone. She continued looking around, unaware that Chef was sitting on the couch on the side, watching her do all this.

"Gotcha!" he screamed, jumping off the couch and chasing after her. Samey shrieked and ran out of the trailer, throwing the stick away from her onto the grass. When Chef found her, she was smiling sweetly.

"What were you doing in there?" Chef asked, his voice low.

"I just needed to borrow your phone," Samey answered, making Chef raise an eyebrow. "T-To call my mom! I miss her like crazy, and I'm sure she wants to know how I'm doing-"

Samey was interrupted by a loud stomp. "Atten... hut!" Samey's arms went immediately to her sides in fear. "If you wanted to use my phone, then you should have asked me nicely!"

"You probably would've still said no!"

"You're correct! I would have!"

Samey didn't have time to say anything back to him. He quickly turned around, closed the door behind him, and locked it, so that Samey couldn't get back in.

"I could have gotten Chef's phone," Samey said, sniffling. "I could have changed any votes against B, and I could have saved him from elimination, a-and I c-could've returned his kindness...!" She stormed over to the stick that she threw, and swung it high, tossing it into the forest with an angry scream that melted into weeping.

"Th-There's nothing I can do now, is there? I... just have to hope that he'll be safe..."

* * *

The elimination ceremony had begun, and by now, all ten members of Team Maskwak were aware of the information regarding B and vodka.

"I have tallied your votes, Team Maskwak," Chris said, watching the ten campers sit on log stools in front of him, as a bonfire, large as ever, stood in-between them. "When I call your name, you may pass the barrier that is this bonfire, and come receive a marshmallow."

"However, there are only nine marshmallows, meaning that one of you will be going home."

They knew this, all too well. But hearing Chris say it to their faces at the place where Topher was eliminated made the thought much more chilling.

Chris walked behind his podium and cleared his throat as he picked up his clipboard. "I will now read the votes. The first person to receive a marshmallow tonight is..."

...

"Dawn."

She pushed a strand of platinum blonde hair to the side with a smile, and stood up to claim her marshmallow.

"Scarlett."

Scarlett followed Dawn, looking back at Max as she did. Max gave her an evil grin, knowing that he would still be safe for tonight. He patiently waited for his name to be announced.

"Cameron."

"Yes!" Cameron shouted, leaping with joy. Max's fists clenched in pure anger and he yelled, "What? You didn't vote him off? He's an absolute-"

"I'm standing right here, Max," Cameron reminded him. He ate his marshmallow right in front of Max's face. As he swallowed the sugary treat, he turned to Chris. "Chris, I'd like to change my vote to Max."

Max's eye twitched. Chris shrugged and shook his head. "Sorry, Cam. But all votes are final."

"Aw... that's fine, I guess." Cameron walked back beside Dawn and Scarlett.

Chris coughed in the middle of an awkward situation. "Getting back to the elimination... the next two people who are safe are... Dakota and Shawn."

"Alright," Shawn shouted with a fist pump. Dakota turned to Sam and placed a hand on his forearm. "Good luck, Sam."

"Don't you worry, I'll be fine," Sam insisted. He sighed as he watched Dakota leave to grab a marshmallow.

"...Ella, you're safe."

As soon as Ella stood up, Chris reminded her not to sing. She received her marshmallow without even the faintest humming.

The host looked at the four campers sitting in front of him. "Anne Maria, B, Sam, and Max. You were the only people to receive votes."

Anne Maria gasped dramatically. "What? Who keeps votin' for me?" She reached into her poof and pulled out a can of hairspray, holding it threateningly as if it was a gun. "If I get voted off tonight, you're all getting your eyes waterproofed!"

"Easy, Anne Maria," Chris said. "You're safe."

"Oh, whoops," Anne Maria giggled, sticking her hairspray can back into her poof for later. She took her marshmallow (which seemed to have some sort of orange paint on it from her fingers) and ate it in one bite, not even wincing at the strange taste.

Samey had just made it to the elimination ceremony in time. She was creeping up the forest trail so that nobody would notice her, and hid behind a nearby tree. She noticed that B was one of the three people still sitting down. She covered her hand with her mouth, repeating the word "no," over and over in a whisper.

"Max."

He stood up with a "hmph," and received his marshmallow, eating it with small bites. As he approached Scarlett, she complimented, "Nice work, Max." She received another "hmph."

"Campers," Chris began, looking at Sam and B. "This is the final marshmallow of the evening."

"Oh no, oh no, please don't do this," Samey pled.

Chris played with the final marshmallow in his hands. "I don't think I need to explain why you two are on the chopping block, but... I will anyways."

The gamer rolled his eyes as the host spoke. "Sam, you're in danger of elimination because you vomited all over your date's dress. Guess you shouldn't have pigged out on all those cookies."

"Hey, that's never happened before," Sam objected.

"Well, there's a first time for everything. And there's also a last time for everything, which might refer to your last night on this island, Sam."

"Just get on with it, please."

"Gotcha. B, it has become clear to everyone on this team that you have been drinking tonight, and getting drunk is not the best decision for a challenge, let alone one that involves dancing." B shook his head rapidly, but Chris couldn't be fooled. The certain look that the host gave B frightened Samey so much that she clutched onto the tree she was hiding behind, mentally preparing herself for what was about to happen.

B held on to his hat with fear, and Sam slumped over with a depressed face. Both Dakota and Samey bit their fingernails in uncomfortable suspense.

"The final marshmallow of the evening goes to..."

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

"...Sam."

Samey hit her fist on the tree, and cursed for the first time in her life. "Damn... why?"

The gamer wanted to feel excited, but he knew that no matter which one of them was eliminated, he would feel bad either way. "Sorry, B," Sam said. He decided to give his marshmallow to the inventor. "Here, take this. It's a parting gift from me to you."

B looked up at Sam with a glum face, as if to say, _I don't deserve this._ He refused by holding up his hand.

But Sam wouldn't accept his refusal. "You helped us with the first challenge by using that stick to make us go faster. And you built that bunk bed for us just so we could have a nicer place to sleep. Ever since you set foot on this island, you've been so loyal to our team, and you've been so selfless. So if anyone deserves this marshmallow, it's you."

This speech touched all hearts on the team, and all girls placed their hands on their hearts. After seeing their sad faces, B decided to accept Sam's marshmallow, and popped it into his mouth. He didn't care that some of his teammates voted for him. They probably voted him off because they cared about him, and he decided that that was okay.

After sniffling a few tears, Samey finally decided to speak up. "You forgot one thing, Sam," she softly corrected, walking out into the open.

"S-Samey?! You're not supposed to be here!" Chris shouted in shock. However, Samey ignored him.

Sam gasped at Samey's appearance. "Wait, hold on. What did I forgot?"

"You forgot to mention how B went out of his way to help someone on the other team, and how he became such an unlikely, relatable friend in a time of need." B smiled at this and tipped his hat. She sent B off by hugging him tight.

Scarlett was the only person to truly process what Samey said. "B, you helped the other team?"

Samey shook her head and answered for him. "He helped me feel better after what Amy did yesterday. I feel like he's the only person that I can relate to here, so... thanks again, B. I-If I had a marshmallow, I'd give it to you, haha."

"Such a touching moment," Chris remarked. "But B, you'll need to pack your things and leave."

B pulled open the right side of his jacket to reveal all his supplies inside; he was already packed. This made everyone laugh together. B waved to everyone before leaving down the forest trail.

"Goodbye, B," Samey called out into the trees. "Bye!" she shouted louder.

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Samey:** "W-Wow... so B's gone. Yeah... now I finally understand how Scott felt yesterday when Amy got eliminated. Yikes..."

* * *

"Samey, you don't need to be here anymore," Chris informed the cheerleader. "Why don't you take ol' Beverly down to the Dock of Shame? There's someone waiting in the boat for him."

 _Leshawna_ , Samey thought. She eagerly followed the forest trail down to properly send B off.

"Well, that was certainly an interesting elimination," Chris told the remaining nine campers.

Ella outstretched her arms and yawned softly. "My, what a long day."

"Tell me about it," Shawn agreed. "C'mon, guys. Let's go back."

"Not so fast," Chris interrupted. "Didn't I say that there was going to be a surprise tonight? I'll need a volunteer."

Not one person raised their hand, nor did anyone speak up.

"Guess I'll have to just choose somebody. Going once, going twice..."

Still nothing.

"Okay then. Eenie meenie miney mo, who will be the one to go... to Boney Island?!"

Fear was struck in everyone's hearts once he mentioned the name of the eerie island from Total Drama's first season. Before anyone could ask why, Chris read the name of the person he randomly selected.

"...Dakota."

The model shook intensely, thinking about all the creepy things that were on that island from TV. "M-Me?"

"Yes, you. Pack your bags, Dakota. You'll be spending the night on Boney Island tonight!"

"Wait," Sam spoke up. "Why does she have to go there?"

Chris chuckled, and then began to explain. "Here's why. Chef and I... well, actually, just Chef did it. He placed three certain fist-sized wooden totem carvings on Boney Island, and you can take advantage of tonight to find one of them."

Dakota scoffed. "What's so special about some stupid carving?"

"Because, these three wooden statues will save you from elimination, making you one of the most powerful players in Total Drama history! I like to call them... the Invincibility Statues!"

Excited chatter rose among what was left of Team Maskwak. Dakota was confused, though. "So if I find one of these statue things, then what do I do with it?"

"If you find one, it's best not to let anyone find out, or else they may try to steal it from you," the host explained. "You'll need to take it with you to elimination ceremonies, so if you get voted off, you can give me the statue, and all votes cast against you will be cleared. This means that the person with the second-most votes will get the boot. Makes sense?"

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Dakota:** "I've actually got some motivation to be here now, so yeah, I'll find one of those statues if it means staying on this show longer!

* * *

The model stood up with enthusiasm. "Okay, I'm ready for this! When am I leaving?"

"Right now," Chris told her.

"Wait... _now_ _?!_ "

Sam turned to Dakota. "Hey, Dakota. Good luck, and stay safe, okay? Boney Island is pretty shady..."

"Y-Yeah. Got it, I'll be fine."

"Head down to the Boat of Losers with B and Leshawna, then Chef will take you to Boney Island."

Dakota's eyes widened in both shock and confusion. "Wait, I thought you told me to 'pack my bags!' Won't I have time to go to my cabin to pack for Boney Island?"

"It was just a figure of speech."

"Come _on!_ " Dakota threw her hands helplessly up in the air. "No clothes or makeup, or even a blanket... ugh, tonight is so going to suck," she moped, walking down the forest trail.

* * *

Samey and B were standing on the edge of the Dock of Shame, looking at each other in the chilling evening air.

"You're not going to talk before you leave, are you?" Samey asked.

B never answered. He simply hugged Samey as an answer, because he believed that actions spoke louder than words.

"Thanks, B. I won't forget you!"

Samey and B shared one final hug before B and Dakota stepped into the Boat of Losers to join Leshawna. Leshawna greeted them both in a friendly manner. B had never expected to get eliminated in such a comfortable and satisfying way. Samey continued to wave to B, even until he disappeared beyond the horizon.

"Thanks for everything," she whispered, hoping that B could be able to hear her. "I just wish I could have repaid your kindness..."

* * *

 **Anne Maria** \- B

 **B** \- Max

 **Cameron** \- Anne Maria

 **Dakota** \- B

 **Dawn** \- B

 **Ella** \- Sam

 **Max** \- Sam

 **Sam** \- N/A

 **Scarlett** \- B

 **Shawn** \- B

* * *

B \- 5

Sam - 2

Max - 1

Anne Maria - 1

Abstained from Voting - 1

* * *

Elimination Order: Topher, Amy, **B**

* * *

 **(Confessional Cam)**

 **Anne Maria:** "Drinking? On Total Drama?! Yeah, Bev's outta here!"

 **B:** (holds up a piece of paper that reads "Max")

 **Cameron:** "I have a feeling that B will be voted off tonight. Although I won't be able to convince anyone not to vote for him, all I can do is vote for someone else. Like I told my fellow teammates, I'm voting for Anne Maria."

 **Dakota:** "I was planning on voting out someone like Max or Shawn, but now, I have to vote for B. Sure, he's smart, but drinking was such a stupid choice!"

 **Dawn:** "I still feel that same darkness surrounding Dakota, but for now, I must vote for B because of his actions today. Although his aura suggests that he regrets what he has done, it can't be forgiven in Total Drama."

 **Ella:** "Sam did cost us the challenge by eating all those cookies... it's nice to have a cookie for a snack once in a while, but I think he made a meal out of all those cookies. I feel awful for voting such a kindhearted person off the show, but I've learned good and well that I'm going to have to do some things that I'll regret in this game. Sorry again, Sam."

 **Max:** (eats a chocolate chip cookie and talks with his mouth full) "Should've saved all those cookies for someone who can handle them, Sam! MWAHAHAHA!"

 **Sam:** "I... I abstain from voting. Nobody deserves to leave, and I don't want my vote to play a part in the final decision."

 **Scarlett:** "It was an idiotic choice to drink vodka right before a challenge. And to think that someone as smart as B would do that! Heh... I can't believe I ever compared myself to him in terms of intelligence."

 **Shawn:** "Hate to do this, but, sorry B. I hope you feel better when you're off the island."

* * *

~xxx~

~xxx~

~xxx~

 _And so another elimination ends, making this the first elimination to cause any tears among the campers._

 _I guess I should start off by apologizing about this elimination. I did say that my poll on my profile could possibly influence the elimination order, and even though B placed second in a three-way tie with Brick and Shawn, it was B's time to go. His elimination was crucial to establishing Scott's trust among his group when you consider his plan with the vodka and punch. I also apologize if the information regarding getting drunk is incorrect... I've never had alcohol before (let alone got drunk) and I don't intend to do so either, so I did have some trouble accurately writing those parts._

 _I understand that I didn't give many characters as much "screentime" as I usually do, such as Brick, Jasmine, or Anne Maria, but I will try to give them more attention in Chapter 5._

 _Regarding the "surprise" at tonight's elimination, which was having a member from the losing team spend the night on Boney Island to find an Invincibility Statue, I know that this isn't completely identical to how the canon series did it. In All Stars, a member from the winning team always had a volunteer for exile. However, I found this unfair. I felt like the losing team should've been the ones to send someone to Boney Island, as the way All Stars did it gave the winning team too much of an advantage (keeping a member, spending the night in a spa hotel, and having a chance to win individual immunity). So yes, in this story, the losing team will always eliminate a member as well as send one to Boney Island for the night. And yeah, there are three Invincibility Statues this season. Can't wait to show you guys how those will play out in the future._

 _The next challenge will also be an original one. I recently got into Survivor, and since I'm really enjoying it, I will base this challenge off of one of the challenges from Survivor's first season._

 _The poll has been updated for Chapter 4: Parties? Real Original Man. Just as a reminder: if you've voted in the poll, you can vote again if you want to change who you want to win._

 _Once again, let me know if you find any errors, whether it be grammatical or regarding the story. Praise and criticism are much appreciated._

 _Okay, that wraps up this chapter! Stay fresh, and if you celebrate it, have a great Halloween!_

 _ **Special Thanks - Martin Garrix for Animals, Cyndi Lauper for Time After Time, and Paul McCartney for Maybe I'm Amazed**_


	8. Chapter 4C: Thrilled to Death

**Disclaimer: I do not own Total Drama, its characters, or anything else related to the series.**

 **Warning: Mild violence.**

* * *

~Author's Note~

 _Surprise._

* * *

Replying to Reviews~

 **ShadowJcreed -** Thanks for your kind words. I'm also really pleased with the way Samey and B's friendship turned out.

 **Patrick the Fan -** Glad to hear it, and thanks for your support! I also wish that B could have stayed a little longer, but I just felt like it was his time to get eliminated.

 **xtremexavier15 -** B will definitely be avenged!

 **AnonBrowser -** Sam is also one of my favorite Total Drama characters; I can really relate to him in a lot of ways. I only felt it right to give Ella some mature qualities, and I hope that this isn't too deviant from her canon personality. I'll discuss Ella's feelings for Shawn later in the story. About this story's villain... it'll be even more confusing than Pahkitew Island's villain(s). I have five ideas for a villain: Scott, as well as four others who will remain unnamed for now. Two of them won't be main villains of course, but as for the other three, I'm not sure who I would consider as the main villain. Hopefully this chapter will answer one of your questions. ;)

 **DSX62415 -** Yeah, it's just as you said. This is Chris we're talking about; safety never comes first with him. I actually wrote the part at breakfast in Part 1 with the idea that nobody knew what Chris was drinking, and this includes everyone on the camera crew as well. Actually, I just thought about something. If Scarlett hadn't pointed out that Chris was drinking vodka, Scott never would have thought up the plan about spiking B's punch and he wouldn't have gotten him eliminated. Huh... wow. You can thank Scarlett for that.

 **Solarr-Eclipse** **-** Yes, as someone who has never had vodka before, it was definitely a challenge to write about it. I know nothing about getting drunk, the taste of vodka, how long its effects take to wear off, or anything like that, but one thing's for sure: this was completely foreign to me. However, I'm glad that my depiction of vodka was accurate enough for my readers. So from now on, I'll try to avoid those kinds of topics. I 100% agree with you about Samey (sorry if you don't like how I spell her name, as a writer, I've just gotten used to it) getting a chance for development without Amy around. You wanna know something? If I'm honest, I never really liked Samkota all that much until I finally started writing for them. Now they're probably my favorite couple in Total Drama, topping even couples like Duncney!

* * *

Let's begin the special Halloween chapter, shall we?

~xxx~

~xxx~

~xxx~

A car drove through the trees of Pahkitew Island. It was a short faded silver convertible from the late 60's, and the young boy driving the car was very lucky indeed to be able to drive one, especially in the 21st century.

The trees weren't too close together, and were spaced out just enough to possibly even drive with another car side-by-side. Owls cooed with chilling softness, and the cicadas filled the atmosphere's emptiness with their calm vibrations. The moon was full, but all the trees blocked it out, leaving the car's headlights as the only source of light.

A girl was sitting in the passenger's seat beside him. She was enjoying the car ride through the forest, and didn't even care that her arms were tingling from the brisk air.

 _Darkness falls across the land_

 _The midnight hour is close at hand_

 _The figure crawls in search of blood_

 _To terrorize y'all's neighborhood_

Suddenly, the car gradually slowed down until it came to a complete stop. The car seemed to cough abrasively as it did.

"Mike?" the girl asked. "What's wrong?"

Mike pushed the gear shift beside the letter P, and sighed with disappointment. "Honestly," he groaned, trying to stay positive. "We're out of gas!"

Zoey nodded. She was sad that their nighttime cruise together was over, but at least she was still with him. "So, what are we going to do now?"

The two looked at each other with adventurous looks; both were waiting to see if they were on the same page.

* * *

Eventually, the car that was left in the forest shrank out of their sight. Not to say that they looked back; they only focused on what was in front of them, and each other. They listened to their footsteps on the branches and leaves below them, listening as they crackled underneath their shoes like fire would.

Zoey allowed the both of them to walk in silence for a little bit, as she was focused on Mike. His hands were in his pants pockets.

"Hey, um," Zoey began, stuttering. "Is something wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, why do you ask?"

"You have your hands in your pockets... it's rare to see you walk like that."

"O-Oh..." Mike took his hands immediately out of his pockets. "I-It's just from the cold."

Zoey cracked a grin. "Then, shouldn't you put your hands back in your pockets?"

"Yeah, right... sorry about that." The two laughed together and continued to walk.

"I'm having a nice time, Mike," Zoey told the boy, blushing.

Mike chuckled in a friendly manner. "Y-Yeah, I'm having fun too, just walking here with you."

The indie girl played with her wristbands sheepishly. "You did tell me that it would be fun... I'm sorry I didn't believe you at first."

"That doesn't matter right now," Mike stated, stopping Zoey in her place, taking a deep breath to prepare himself for what he was about to say. "Zoey, can I ask you something?"

"Of course, you can ask me anything!" Zoey took both of his hands to calm his nerves.

He nodded with a smile, as if to thank her. "You know that I like you... don't you?"

"Yes," Zoey answered.

"And... I hope you like me the way I like you."

"Yes," she answered again.

"And I was wondering... if you wanted to be my girlfriend..."

Zoey gasped softly, and slowly moved closer to hug Mike as she squealed with joy. "Oh, Mike!" They continued to hug, treating the dark atmosphere around them quite literally, as if they were the only beings in existence without a single outside source to judge them.

 _And whosoever shall be found_

 _If the figure hears them make a sound_

 _Must stand and face the hounds of hell_

 _And rot inside a corpse's shell_

When they let go of each other, Mike pulled out an object from his pocket. It was a necklace on a silver chain; a circular ornament made of copper hung from the chain, and a carved image of Mike was on both sides of the ornament. Zoey giggled delightfully as Mike slipped the necklace on around her head. She picked the copper ornament up from her neck and looked at it in awe; at all the details in the carving, at the perfect circular shape, at how accurately the carving captured his sincere smile...

"It's beautiful," Zoey mused, knowing quite well that the word "beautiful" wasn't worthy of describing the accessory.

Mike showed off his toothy grin, as he was glad to see Zoey smile. "Now it's official." Zoey took her eyes off the necklace to look at Mike and to listen.

"I... I have something I want to tell you," the boy said, his voice quivering.

"Yes, Mike?"

"...I'm not like other guys."

Zoey laughed out loud. "Haha, of course not! That's what I love about you," she complimented, playfully tapping his nose.

But Mike didn't laugh back. He was deadly serious. "No, that's not what I meant. I meant that... I'm different."

"Come on, Mike," Zoey said, mid-laughter. "What are you talking about?"

Mike never had time to answer. He suddenly grabbed his neck, clutching at it with shaky fingers that curled wickedly. He was wheezing as he tried to breathe.

"Mike! Oh my gosh, Mike, what's wrong?!" Zoey ran up to the boy, placing a hand on his shoulder and the other on his heart. It was still beating, but... it was faster than it should have been.

However, Mike could only sputter out two words before losing all his oxygen. "G-Get... away...!"

"No, Mike! Stop choking yourself!"

His face was now blue, as he still tried to speak to the girl. His hands slipped from his neck down by his sides, and Zoey could see that he was still choking. Mike never choked himself... his hands grabbed his neck because of survival instincts. Something had been choking him.

Zoey shrieked as she saw the life fade in an instant from Mike's brown eyes. He fell forward, and hit the ground face-first. With tears in her eyes, she let out a hopeless gasp as she looked at the empty shell below her. She knelt over, placed a hand on his back... and cried more.

"Oh, Mike... what happened to you?"

A sudden movement; Mike sprang up with dark bags underneath his eyes. He was standing like he was about to lunge at a shuddering Zoey.

"My question exactly," answered the boy with a deep voice.

Zoey wasn't sure what to think. "M-Mike, are you okay?"

He held out his hand beside him, as if there was someone there in the shadows to give him a handshake. But nobody was there. Yet a knife... somehow materialized into Mike's hand. Zoey fell backwards once Mike held it in front of him, pointing the blade directly at the girl.

"I'm definitely okay," Mike answered. "But for you, well... that can always be arranged."

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Mike lifted the knife above him as Zoey screamed bloody murder. She managed to stand up in time and run away from the boy, right before the blade could slice her skin.

"You get back here, you little brat!" Mike called from a distance. Zoey tried to run back to the car, to see if it could somehow start up without any gas. To hide beneath... or to hide behind... anything to get away from Mike. But she couldn't remember where the car was. No lights were there to guide Zoey through the maze of identical oak trees. She didn't try to rationalize anything that just happened. She just ran.

But Zoey could hear Mike running after her. She could hear his blood-curdling laughter that seemed to resonate throughout the entire forest. And that laughter was getting closer.

As far as she ran, Zoey couldn't seem to find where the woods ended. It was like Pahkitew Island and all the people on it had just vanished, and the entire world was now a tree-speckled forest. No escape. No hope of freedom. No light. Nothing... but fear.

Soon Zoey needed to stop for a breath. She leaned against a tree and tried to breathe as quietly as she could, which wasn't very quiet at all. Her throat felt painfully cold from all the running. Once she got her breathing under control, she stopped to look around. Her eyes had adjusted after staying in one place for a while, so she could make out the outlines of the trees, and the leaves on the grass.

She was alone.

 _The foulest stench is in the air_

 _Of blood, of metal, of flesh, of fear_

 _And the dark, familiar figure of gloom_

 _Is closing in to seal her doom_

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

Mike had found her, and knocked her on the ground with the handle of his knife. Zoey screamed once more, and as she was quaking on the ground, she felt a sharp pain on her cheek. Once she placed her hand on her face, she lifted it back and saw droplets of red stained on her hand. The corner of the blade closest to the handle had sliced a small part of her skin as Mike knocked her over.

And he was moving closer, with the knife. "Ohoho, am I going to enjoy this!"

"Mike, please stop!"

"Listen here. Mike... is... gone."

"No..."

"I'm not Mike anymore. I'm... _Mal_."

"M-Mal...?!"

He raised the blade once again, breathing like a beast; Zoey was too shocked to move a muscle. "Linger on the thought that Mike is gone... as you slip away to the afterlife." She let out one final scream... before the boy thrust the blade down.

* * *

Mike thrust his head up, and hit it on a piece of wood. Confused, he looked up to see the bottom of the top bunk in his cabin. He could still hear the demonic breathing of the killer who killed Zoey in his dream, but after looking around, he noticed that it was just Brick's loud snoring that had somehow snuck its way into Mike's dream.

"So... it was a dream, then. Zoey's okay... that's a relief."

It did take him a while to finally slip back into deep slumber, but when he did... he began to laugh unconsciously... and maliciously.

 _And though you fight to stay alive_

 _Your body starts to shiver_

 _For no mere mortal can resist_

 _The evil... of Zoey's killer_

* * *

~xxx~

~xxx~

~xxx~

 _And... that's the reason why I had to get the first two parts out before Halloween. I had a lot of fun writing it, and hopefully it'll answer one of the biggest questions you guys have. Mal... will definitely be in this fanfiction._

 _I didn't want to reveal something like that this early, but I just had to reveal it on Halloween so I could parody one of my favorite songs of all time. I won't say anything else about Mal; just expect him in this story soon._

 _I need some time to plan for Chapter 5: The Collabyrinth, as well as some time to start on a sequel to another fanfiction I'm writing on another site. It's a crossover between Danganronpa and Flipline. I won't post the link here, but if you'd like to start reading it, then by all means, let me know and I'll direct you to the link. (It's in script format, but it has gotten a lot of love in the past year)_

 _Pencil-Lead-Guy Recommendation #4: Thriller by Michael Jackson_

 _Have a wonderful Halloween! Stay fresh._


End file.
